FROEBEL'S 
KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 



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FROEBEL'S 
KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

Critically Examined 



BY 



WILLIAM HEARD KILPATRICK, Ph.D. 

>\ 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVEBSITT 



Neto gork 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1916 

All rights reserved 



.W5 



OOPTBIGHT, 1916, 

By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1916. 




J. 8. Gushing Co. — Berwick <fc Smith Oo. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



MAR 23 1916 
)CI.A427341 



PREFACE 

Mr. Quick, discussing Froebel in his Educa- 
tional Reformers^ has said with a charming 
frankness, "Where I can understand him, he 
seems to me singularly wise," but "at times he 
goes entirely out of sight, and whether the 
words we hear are the expression of deep truth 
or have absolutely no meaning at all, I for my 
part am at times totally unable to determine." 
Probably most students of educational theory 
— outside the ranks of kindergartners, at any 
rate — have felt Mr. Quick's dilemma. Amid 
much that is clearly valuable there is much that 
is singularly forbidding. Among the kinder- 
gartners themselves this questionable element 
in Froebel's thought has produced division. 
One wing accepts pretty fully the whole origi- 
nal body of kindergarten doctrine and prac- 
tice, and opposes any appreciable modification 
thereof; the other wing consciously rejects in 

V 



PREFACE 

greater or less degree certain parts of the 
original Froebelian doctrine and seeks to im- 
prove the kindergarten theory and practice by 
utilizing the best thought current in the rest 
of the educational world. The latter group 
honors Froebel, but looks to the future. The 
former with an almost religious zeal has all 
but developed a Froebel cult. 

In this general situation, it fell to the writer 
to conduct a critical study of Froebel with 
successive classes of experienced kindergarten 
and primary students. Naturally, opposed 
points of view manifested themselves with re- 
gard to many of the doctrines studied. Out 
of these conflicts has come this book. It is 
therefore critical and not historical. It makes 
no pretense to a complete discussion of Froebel, 
but confines itself mainly to those disputed 
points of kindergarten theory which, diversely 
taken, lead to diverse practice. 

The general aim of the book is to help spread 
the reform of kindergarten theory and practice. 
Its appeal is accordingly not only to kinder- 
gartners and to the general student of educa- 

vi 



PREFACE 

tional theory, but as well to superintendents 
and other directors of educational practice. 
The complete kindergarten reform must be 
the work of all. Until the superintendent can 
know and properly value what goes on in the 
kindergarten, his part in improving conditions 
will be negligible or worse. The kindergartner 
herself will prove efficient in bettering affairs 
in the proportion that she can see and appraise 
what she does. Until the general student of 
education can place the theory of the kinder- 
garten into its proper correlation with an all- 
inclusive educational theory, until that time 
will the kindergarten exist as a thing apart, ill 
connected with other educational endeavor. 
It is strikingly true that during the past quarter 
century kindergarten reform has gone steadily 
forward; but a considerable body of kinder- 
gartners still stoutly oppose change. So long 
as their theory remains as it is — an essentially 
esoteric doctrine formulated in a terminology 
peculiar to their self-contained group — just so 
long will that doctrine lack adequate appraisal, 
and their kindergarten will lack proper co- 

vii 



PREFACE 

ordination with the primary school. So far as 
known to the writer no pubHcation hitherto 
made holds up for consideration the peculiar 
ideas of Froebel, the esoteric doctrine of the 
conservative kindergartner. The specific aim 
of this book then is, first, to make clear to the 
outsider — to the general educator — just what 
doctrines Froebel did propose for the kinder- 
garten, and, second, to ascertain what value 
attaches to these in the light of the best current 
theory. 

If some should feel that the criticism is too 
largely negative, let it be remembered in con- 
nection with the purpose of the book that what 
all accept demands little discussion. The 
better side of Froebel has already in larger 
part been absorbed into the common body of 
received educational thought; once novel, this 
now "goes without saying." It may be added 
correlatively that the worse aspect of Froebel 
pervades in peculiar manner his every teaching 
and presents, moreover, peculiar difficulties of 
discussion. Adequate treatment must seem an 
overemphasis. To lessen this feeling for those 

viii 



PREFACE 

readers who favor Froebel, it is suggested that 
they begin with Chapters V and VI, and after- 
wards go to the first. 

To avoid the annoyance which many feel at 
frequent footnotes, the sources of the quota- 
tions used in the body of the text are indicated 
by figures within parentheses placed in the text 
immediately following the several quotations. 
Thus (6 : 29) would mean that the quotation 
just preceding is to be found on page 29 of the 
book numbered 6 in the List of References 
(See page 209). As English translations will 
be more satisfactory than the German originals 
to most of my readers, the references are made 
to the generally used translations ; and the 
quotations are generally given as there found. 
Whenever, however, either accuracy or clearness 
has demanded it, the translations have been 
freely modified or made anew. Such changes 
are indicated by the asterisk placed by the page 
number, as (4:36*). For the sake of those 
who may wish to consult the German originals 
a Converting Table of References has been 
prepared (see page 211), by which any page 

ix 



PREFACE 

reference to the English translation may be 
turned into the appropriate page reference to 
the German original. 

My indebtedness in the preparation of the 
book is first of all to my former students, 
especially to those combative ones that were 
hard to convince. They compelled me to ex- 
plore the nooks and crannies of the argument. 
After them I am indebted for most helpful sug- 
gestions to my good friends, Dr. I, L. Kandel, 
Professor Frank P. Graves, Professor Naomi 
Norsworthy, and Professor Patty S. Hill. No 
one of them, however, is to be held in any way 
responsible for the opinions herein expressed. 
Most of all I am indebted to my wife, who has 
not only supplied specific knowledge of kinder- 
garten procedure, but in many other ways has 

helped me at every stage. 

W. H. K. 



CONTENTS 



PAGES 

Preface v-x 



CHAPTER I 

The Principles Underlying Froebel's Educa- 
tional Doctrines 1-17 

Nature as divine, 1. — The universal law of de- 
velopment, 4. — The parallelism of all development, 
5. — The meaning of development, 8. — The doc- 
trine of inter-connectedness, 11. — The " law of 
opposites," 14. — Summary, 16. 

CHAPTER II 

The Underlying Principles Examined . . . 18-58 

Was Froebel a pantheist? 18. — Was Froebel an 
evolutionist ? 23. — The parallelism of all develop- 
ment, 26. — The doctrine of "correspondences," 31. 
— Inter-connectedness, 32. — The member-whole re- 
lationship, 38. — The " law of opposites," 42. — 
Summary, 56. 

CHAPTER III 

Froebel's Educational Psychology . . . 59-108 

The doctrine of development, 59. — Froebel's be- 
lief in innate ideas, 60. — The doctrine of symbolism 
stated, 66. — The doctrine of symbolism examined, 
71. — "Potential symbols," 79. — Freedom in edu- 
cation, 82. — The meaning of development in rela- 



CONTENTS 

PAGES 

tion to freedom, 86. — A suggested doctrine of 
freedom, 93. — Froebel's doctrine of self -activity, 
96. — The meaning of the term play, 98. — Minor 
psychological doctrines, 103. — Summary, 107. 

CHAPTER IV 

The Kindergarten Gifts and Occupations . . 109-151 

The gift series, 109. — The ball as the first of the 

gift series, 110. — The symbolism of the ball, 118 

The derivation of the series, 121. — Directions for 
using the blocks, 129. — The doctrine of " sequence," 
131. — " Forms of life," 136. — " Forms of knowl- 
edge," 139. — Significance of the gift series, 145. — 
Summary, 150. 

CHAPTER V 

Additional Elements of the Kindergarten Cur- 
riculum 152-194 

Froebel's use of games, 152. — The " inner meaning " 
of games, 157. — Vicarious symbolism, 162. — The 
mother plays and the Mother Play book, 165. — Use 
of the Mother Play book, 170. — Symbolism in the 
mother plays, 176. — " Pattern "plays, 181. — Nature- 
study in Froebel, 187. — School gardens, 192. 

CHAPTER VI 

Conclusion 195-208 

Unsatisfactory elements in Froebel's system, 195. 
— The use of Froebel's writings, 200. — Strong points 
in Froebel's system, 202. 

List of References 209 

A Converting Table of References .... 211 
Index 215-217 

xii 



FROEBEL'S 
KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN 
PRINCIPLES 

CHAPTER I 

THE PRINCIPLES UNI?ERLYING FROEBEl's EDU- 
CATIONAL DOCTRINES 

Nature as divine. — At the very entrance to 
Froebel's educational system stands his concep- 
tion of God. Few thinkers or writers have, in 
the structure and in the presentation of their 
systems, made the divine so fundamental. The 
goal and explanation of education for him is 
found in God and in the relationship that man 
and nature bear to God. The note sounded in 
the opening paragraph of the Education of Man 
appears in every serious effort made by Froebel 
to present the deeper aspects of his thinking. 
To some who heard him (8 : 29) he seemed a 
pantheist, so intimately did he refer all things 
to God. 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

While Froebel often referred to the world as 
the creation of God, it was not in our popular 
sense that he conceived thiis relationship be- 
tween the Creator and the creation. To the 
ordinary common-sense Christian, God made 
the world originally and still rules it ; but the 
creation exists, as it were, outside of God, and 
His rulership is rather after the analogy of a man 
over his contrivances or perhaps of a father over 
his children. To Froebel, on the contrary, the 
world and everything in it in some mysterious 
sense came out of God and still remains in 
him, just as the common-sense man conceives a 
thought to come out of the mind and yet be in 
it. A second illustration, not one of FroebePs 
to be sure, will perhaps make clearer the thought. 
In algebra the expression (a -i-by gives rise to 
a^ + S a^b + 3 ab^ -|- b^. In a true sense this longer 
expression was implicit in the shorter and came 
out of it; in another phrase, the longer is the 
manifestation of the shorter. Or yet again, out 
of the seed comes the full-grown plant, and the 
latter both constitutes and expresses the real 
nature and being of the seed. In some such way 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES . 

— not exactly, of course, since God is infinite — 
the world comes from within God and is the 
manifestation of God ; and having this origin 
and this nature the world itself is for Froebel 
essentially divine, and is accordingly not evil 
but good. 

In thinking of this, Froebel — somewhat like 
that early mystic, Plotinus — seems to make 
three gradations of relationship to God. Matter 
and physical force form one grade ; natural laws, 
a second ; and consciousness, a third. These 
three, however, are not to be taken as sharply 
differentiated, but as shading into each other. 
All things emanate from God, but consciousness, 
particularly self-consciousness, is most nearly 
like God ; or better, is the most adequate mani- 
festation of the divine nature. Matter and 
mere physical force came from God also, but 
they very inadequately manifest him. Perhaps 
it would be truer to say that they in themselves 
are hardly intended to manifest him, but rather 
to make possible, in the finite, the manifestation 
of God through natural laws and through hu- 
manity. " God is the sole source of all things " 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

(1:2). "The purpose of all existence is the 
revelation of God. All existing things are only 
through and because of the (divine) essence that 
is in them" (1 : 151 f.). "The universe ap- 
peared, as it were, to be drawn from within 
him" (5:26). Force and matter are the two 
" external conditions of form and structure " 
(1 : 167), but " force and matter are in them- 
selves inseparably one " (1 : 168). " In all 
things there lives and reigns an eternal law. . . . 
This all-controlling law is necessarily based on 
an all-pervading, energetic, living, self-conscious, 
and hence eternal unity. . . . This Unity is 
God. All things have come from the Divine 
Unity, from God, and have their origin in the 
Divine Unity, in God alone " (1:1 f.). 

The universal law of development. — From 
this consideration of the divine element, which 
constitutes " the essence of each thing," it is 
but a step to the revelation of this divine essence 
by means of development. Just as God mani- 
fests himself by causing the universe to appear, 
" drawn as it were from within him " {die 
Entdusserung seines Innern), so wherever the 

4 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES 

divine spark is present constituting the essence 
of anything, there development takes place; 
the essence unfolds, disclosing and manifesting 
the divine nature. "It is the destiny and life 
work of all things to unfold their [divine] es- 
sence ... to reveal God in their external and 
transient being " (1:2). '' The spirit of God 
dwells and lives in nature, produces, fosters, 
and unfolds everything, as the common life 
principle " (8 : 29), There is for man, for each 
plant, for every living thing, one "law by which 
all things are developed and perfected, have been 
developed and perfected, and which is supreme 
wherever Creator and creation, God and nature, 
are found " (1 : 20). " There is a certain course 
and sequence in the development of all things, 
which the Creator has followed in building up 
the race, and which the human being must be 
allowed to follow if he is ever to approach per- 
fection. This course is open to every creature, 
no matter what the stage of his development may 
be" (9:172). 

The parallelism of all development. — One 
important aspect of this universal law of de- 

5 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

velopment is found in the parallelism that 
exists between any two instances of develop- 
ment, for example, between man, on the one 
hand, and organic nature, on the other. " In 
the clear disclosures of God's spirit in Nature 
are seen the nature, dignity, and holiness of man 
reflected in all their pristine clearness and 
purity " (1 : 159). So complete for Froebel is 
the parallel between men and trees that 
" following these silent, certainly reliable, out- 
wardly intelligible, impersonal teachers, man 
may not only learn from them with certainty 
the thing to be done at every moment of life, 
but, acting accordingly, he will surely satisfy 
the demands made upon him " (1 : 159*). " If 
we seek the inner reason for this high symbolic 
meaning of the different individual phenom- 
ena of nature, particularly in the phases of 
development of natural objects in relation to 
the stadia of human development, we find it 
in the fact that nature and man have their 
common origin in one and the same eternal 

* For an explanation of the use of the asterisk in connection with the 
reference numbers see page ix. 

6 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES 

Being, and that their development takes place 
in accordance with the same laws, only at dif- 
ferent stages. Thus the observation of nature 
and the observation of man, in comparison and 
connection with the facts and phenomena of 
the general development of humanity, are mutu- 
ally explanatory and mutually lead to deeper 
knowledge the one of the other " (1 : 160 f.). 

From the law of parallelism as here stated, 
Froebel makes certain educational deductions. 
These at this point need only be stated ; their 
fuller consideration belongs to the more dis- 
tinctly educational portion of the book. The 
doctrine of the recapitulation of the moral his- 
tory of the race by the individual is for Froebel 
essentially but a special case of the parallelism 
of all development wherever found. " Child 
development requires the same series of steps 
for the religious life as is found in the develop- 
ment of the human race, — that is, it must be 
done as God himself has conducted the educa- 
tion of the human race" (8: 190*). A further 
instance of the law of universal parallel devel- 
opment is the doctrine of " correspondences," 

7 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

that is, " the analogy that prevails in the 
universe between spirit and body and between 
thought and its embodiment*' (8:212). This 
is often, and perhaps properly, presented as 
more fundamental than what I have called 
the general law. If we were more concerned 
to trace origins, it would be proper at this point 
to show that this doctrine of " correspondences " 
(to continue the ordinary kindergarten desig- 
nation) is Schelling's fundamental advance upon, 
or differentiation from, Fichte. Fichte had out- 
raged common sense in making the ego create 
the universe; Schelling, by the parallelism of 
spirit and nature, sought to avoid so unaccept- 
able a doctrine. Froebel, while caring little 
for philosophy as such, nevertheless adopted 
Schelling's notion, using the parallelism of mind 
and nature as the basis of his educational 
symbolism, which together with its correlative 
psychology, will later prove to be a funda- 
mental doctrine in the theory of the kinder- 
garten. 

The meaning of development. — We have so 
far spoken of development or unfolding, as 

8 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES 

if the meaning of this term were by consent of 
all uniquely fixed. Such, however, is not the 
case. The use of the word development shows 
a wide range of meaning. Some writers will 
speak of developing a strong character in a child, 
although they hold that this can be done only 
through habits enforced on it from without. 
Others will restrict development to the dis- 
closing, through unfolding growth, of what had 
from the first been present, though in a latent 
form. Still others will pursue a middle course 
and consider that the term development is 
properly applied to the outward shaping and 
defining of original inner tendency. We are 
not at present concerned to ask which use of the 
word is proper, nor which concept best fits 
the facts. We do wish, however, to ascertain 
Froebel's idea on this point, especially so, as 
certain important educational doctrines depend 
upon his specific interpretation of the theory 
under consideration. 

In Froebel's time the old biological doctrine 
of " preformation " was still common, namely, 
that the germ contains the adult form in minia- 

9 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

ture. Thus Oken ^ held that the " perfect seed 
is the whole plant in miniature with root, stalk, 
and leaf " and " in the embryo the whole animal 
already resides in miniature as does the plant 
in the seed." That Froebel understood Pes- 
talozzi's educational doctrine of development 
in the preformation sense seems fairly clear. 
" All the child is ever to be and become, lies 
— however slightly indicated — in the child and 
can be attained only through development from 
within outward " (1 : 68). " The new-born child 
is not merely to become a man, but the man 
already appears and indeed is in the child with 
all his talents and the unity of his nature " 
(4 : 49) . A still more interesting aspect of this 

^ Lorenz Oken (1779-1851), a German naturalist, was the head of the 
school of "natur-philosophie." Kant had set German thought upon 
the a priori road. Fichte followed with his Wissenschaftslehre, in which 
he aimed to construct a priori the foundations of knowledge. Schelling 
extended the method, paying particular attention to the realm of nature. 
Oken in 1802 published his Orundriss der Natur-philosophie, which with 
later publications put him at the head of this bizarre movement. If this 
were the proper place, it would be both easy and interesting to show that 
Froebel, in so far as he was scientifically inclined, belonged to this school. 
That he got from Oken some of the most mystical and repellent elements 
of his thinking is almost as evident. 

The two quotations given in the text are taken from Tulk's English 
translation. Elements of Physio-philosophy by Lorenz Oken; the first, 
§ 1578 ; the second, § 2332. 

10 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES 

doctrine is found in an apparent assertion 
that certain ideas, which later are to appear, are 
slumbering in the child : " How could such 
antitheses ^ . . . which only come into the com- 
paring, considering, mature thinking mind, 
even exist in the child's dreamlike condition? 
We repeat here once more what we have already 
said elsewhere, Did it not lie in the child, did it 
not live and work in the child, did it not already 
define the child's life, it could by no means 
come out from it at a later period" (4:94*). 
This doctrine of innate ideas slumbering from 
the beginning in the child's mind is of prime 
importance to Froebel in the psychology of 
his kindergarten gifts and occupations; while 
the general doctrine of development in the pre- 
formation sense underlies the whole of his educa- 
tional thinking. 

The doctrine of inter-connectedness. — Inter- 
connectedness is another favorite doctrine with 
Froebel. That all things show an inter-con- 
nectedness and organic unity consequent 
upon their origin and continued existence in 

^ See footnote, page 61. 
11 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

God, is a theme most frequent on his Hps. To 
the superficial observer, indeed, nature may 
appear " as a diversity of many and separate 
individualities without definite inner living con- 
nection " ; in fact, however, '* these externally 
distinct and separate individualities are or- 
ganically united members of one great living 
organism, of one great intrinsically and spiritu- 
ally coherent whole " (1 : 165). This organic 
connectedness was conceived by Froebel under 
several aspects, all of which, to be sure, are but 
different ways of looking at the fundamental 
doctrines borrowed by Froebel from Schelling. 
Since God is a unity and since to Froebel all 
development is but the unfolding of the divine 
essence, it follows — in his opinion — that the 
whole of the Unity works efficiently at every 
point in the process. This was considered to 
hold as well of the smaller subordinate unities of 
the one great Unity. " The essential nature 
of the whole plant lies in some peculiar manner 
in each individual part of the plant " (1 : 195). 
" As the germ bears within itself the plant and 
the whole plant life, does not the child bear 

12 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES 

also within himself the whole man and the whole 
life of humanity ? " (4 : 62) . *' Does not the whole 
tree life — indeed, the whole vegetable life — 
work already in each germinating seed of the 
tree? So, also, in each active child, in each 
activity of the child, works already the totality 
of the man's life, — indeed, of the life of hu- 
manity " (4:94*). This aspect of inter-con- 
nectedness, the doctrine of the Gliedganzes, 
seems to be the foundation of Froebel's concep- 
tion of the relation of the individual to society. 

Another line of inter-connectedness found in 
the notion of development lays the foundation 
for Froebel's symbolism. If development is 
merely the disclosing of what had from the first 
been latently present, then the early stages of 
any process of development give intimation 
of or " point to " the latter stages of the same. 
Since development is universal, there will every- 
where be found "anticipations " and "premoni- 
tions." " As the life of man in all the necessary 
variety of its phenomena is in itself a complete 
unity, one can recognize and consider even in 
the first baby life, though only in their slightest 

13 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

traces and most delicate germs, all the spiritual 
activities which in later life become predomi- 
nant" (4 : 30). And again, since all development 
is parallel, the corresponding stages must " point 
to " each other ; that is, the first stage of any 
one development has a significant relationship 
with any other first stage wherever found. 
This type of inter-connectedness when joined 
with the doctrine of " correspondences " forms 
precisely the basis for Froebel's symbolism. 

The " law of opposites." — Everything dis- 
cussed so far in this chapter is dependent upon 
one or both of two general notions : first, that 
the universe in general, and each several organic 
entity in particular, is divine in essence; and 
second, that this divine essence always struggles 
to manifest itself by unfolding outwardly what 
had from the beginning been enfolded in- 
wardly, all the unfoldings following the same 
law and consequently showing the same charac- 
teristics. The universal law itself, according 
to which Froebel conceived the unfolding to 
take place, next demands our attention. 

" Development is due to the reconciliation of 

14 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES 

opposites through the hnk of mediation " (6 : 
298). " In all the phenomena of life, there is a 
connection of antitheses or mediation of oppo- 
sites " (4 :192). " In nature and in life a third 
connecting appearance always shows itself be- 
tween two purely opposite appearances " (4 : 
232). "The law of connection is the funda- 
mental law in the universe " (5 : 31). The reader 
acquainted with philosophy will recognize this 
as the thesis, antithesis, and synthesis concept of 
Fichte and Hegel. Froebel in fact occasionally 
uses this formal terminology (e.g. 8 : 223) ; but 
when the connection of his doctrine with those 
of the two philosophers was pointed out to him, 
Froebel is quoted- as saying : *' It is both of these 
and yet has nothing in common with either 
of them" (1:42). We are not concerned, 
however, with the philosophic aspect of Froebel's 
law, but only with its educational application. 
The references to the educational doctrine are 
almost innumerable ; for Froebel felt, as he 
himself said, that the law was fundamental : 
" The whole meaning of my educational method 
rests upon this law alone. The method stands 

15 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

or falls with the recognition or non-recognition 
of it" (8:228). It will suffice at this time to 
present two illustrations of the working of the 
law, and leave its further elucidation to the next 
chapter. '* Everything . . . comes to be known 
only as it is connected with the opposite of its 
kind" (1:42). One thus can know hard only 
in connection with soft; the two concepts must 
emerge simultaneously. Again, " the sphere 
and cube are pure opposites. . . . The law of 
connection demands for these two opposite yet 
like bodies ... a connecting one, which is the 
cylinder " (5 : 204). From this consideration the 
cylinder was added to the "gift" series. 

Summary of the chapter. — In general terms 
the more fundamental conceptions which under- 
lie Froebel's educational doctrines are as fol- 
lows : (i) The conception of God as the source 
and essence of the world as a whole and of each 
several organic thing in the world ; (ii) develop- 
ment as the universal law whereby the divine 
essence makes manifest and explicit what was 
from the first implicit; (iii) the similarity and 
parallelism of all instances of development 

16 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES 

wherever found ; (iv) the doctrine of " corre- 
spondences " or the analogy everywhere sub- 
sisting between " spirit " and body ; (v) the 
scheme of connections which run throughout 
the world as a result of the foregoing; (vi) the 
doctrine of the Gliedganzes or member-whole, 
that the whole works in each part, and (vii) the 
law of opposities as the method by which the 
development everywhere takes place. In the 
succeeding chapter there will be made an evalua- 
tion of these principles in the effort to judge of 
their worth for present-day education. 



17 



CHAPTER II 

THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

To discuss adequately the general philosophic 
movement to which Froebel belonged would 
carry us far beyond the scope of this work. 
For our purpose even Schelling's system can be 
left unexamined, although Froebel' s connection 
therewith is most intimate. Indeed, the more 
philosophical of Froebel's own doctrines we shall 
not seek to appraise, lest the whole discussion 
seem thereby committed to some one interpreta- 
tion of matters about which reputable thinkers 
have differed. The main attention will there- 
fore be given to those doctrines of Froebel's 
which affect more directly the practice of educa- 
tion ; and criticisms of these will be based as far 
as possible upon considerations that are generally 
admitted in current educational thinking. 

Was Froebel a pantheist.'^ — At the risk of 
violating the plan just laid down, it may to some 

18 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

prove interesting — if not otherwise valuable — 
to consider Froebel's conception of the relation 
of the universe to God. His statements will 
not appeal equally to all. Some will feel that 
the more personal aspect of Deity is lost in an 
all too pantheistic scheme. Others will doubt 
whether satisfactory scientific explanation can 
be read into the more or less vague and mystical 
relationships described in the Education of Man. 
This latter group will ask what scientific relation- 
ship is meant by the statement that " the divine 
[element] acting in each thing is the essence 
of each thing" (1:2*). An essence, these will 
say, as here used, is a medieval conception 
foreign to the modern mind. Still a third group 
will object that the author has too much to say 
concerning ultimates, conceptions which in the 
opinion of this group belong to bygone stages of 
thought. 

Passing by these several groups, let us inquire 
directly, what did Froebel think about the nature 
and person of God.^^ The answer is not easy. 
Some of Froebel's expressions certainly imply the 
characteristics of a person, a conscious, willing 

19 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

intelligence. On the other hand, all personal 
attributes seem at times precluded. Personality 
seemed to be implied in such phrases as, " God's 
fatherly kindness, love and goodness to man " 
(3 : 177) ; "a Father who thinks for us and 
loves us " (6 : 255) ; " God as a loving father " 
(6 : 57) ; " self-conscious . . . unity . . . God " 
(1:1). This last phrase, "self-conscious," on 
the face of it points clearly to personality. The 
others, however, are not so certain. It is very 
easy for one of a religious temperament to use 
the popular terminology in trying to describe a 
force in nature assumed to be beneficent in 
its effect. Our language is full of anthropo- 
morphisms. Personification is almost inevitable. 
Froebel undoubtedly had a strong religious bias, 
which would predispose him to use this popular 
terminology even if he felt that his interpretation 
was not the common one. Perhaps too the 
charge of atheism made during his later life 
inclined him to emphasize whatever he held in 
common with other religious people. It is in- 
teresting to note within a single passage the as- 
sertion of a scientific, even atheistic conception, 

£0 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

and the immediate translation of this into ortho- 
dox terminology : *' In nature, in life, and in the 
phenomena both of nature and of life, the ever- 
lasting force of destiny is paramount. We, as 
Christians, call this the everlasting dispensation 
and guidance of Providence, and when this 
coincides with the expression of our inmost 
thought, we . . . acknowledge in it . . . the 
voice and the will of God" (6:23 f.). Else- 
where Froebel refers to nature in terms generally 
reserved exclusively for the religious attitude 
towards God : " Nature . . . the original fount 
of all being and life " (5 : 36), " rest in perfect 
trust upon nature," " faith in nature," " the 
feeling of oneness with nature" (6:16ff.). 
More distinctly pantheistic is the following : 
" The same law rules everwhere, the one law of 
God, which expresses itself in thousandfold many- 
sidedness, but in the last analysis is one, for God 
is himself the law" (8:28). In keeping with 
this are two passages which together come pretty 
close to merging man's individual consciousness 
in an all-inclusive divine mind : " The life of all 
which is manifold and apparently isolated in the 

21 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

universe, is, according to its inner nature, single " 
(5 : 23) ; " the Divine Spirit that lives and is 
manifest in the finite, in man, has an early 
though dim feeling of its divine origin " (1 : 25). 
In connection with this Froebel's denial of 
pantheism is interesting. In answer to Froebel's 
expression of opinion, quoted just above, that 
" God is himself the law," a bystander said, 
*' That is what people call pantheism." Where- 
upon Froebel replied : " I do not say like the 
pantheists that the world is God's body, that 
God dwells in it as in a house. But the spirit of 
God dwells and lives in nature, produces, fosters 
and unfolds everything as the common life 
principle" (8:29f.). A dispute about terms 
does not concern us; but if Froebel had set 
out consciously to show that he was a pantheist, 
he probably could not have done better. There 
need be no hesitation in concluding that in spite 
of attributing self -consciousness to God, and in 
spite of frequent lapses into popular religious 
terminology, the general background of Froebel's 
conscious theory is decidedly pantheistic, if not 
pantheism itself. 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

Was Froebel an evolutionist? — The doctrine 
of universal development, which next demands 
our attention, is one of peculiar difficulty. 
Cosmic development, or evolution as we more 
generally call it, is too vast a topic for us to 
enter upon. Philosophically, evolutionists have 
divided according as they have held or denied 
that actual novelty emerges in the process. It 
seems safe to enroll Froebel among the latter 
group as holding that evolution merely makes 
explicit what was all the while implicit ; and 
this we conclude in spite of the fact that specific 
references — so far as cosmic development goes 
— are lacking, and in spite of the further fact 
that Froebel held to the endlessness of the pro- 
cess. He thus speaks of " an eternally progress- 
ing diversity in natural developments " (1:6), 
and elsewhere asserts that " the spirit . . . 
will continue ... to unfold itself ever more " 
(1 : 157). We are, however, warranted in feel- 
ing that Froebel's whole conscious attitude de- 
nies the idea of emerging novelty. 

If it be asked whether Froebel believed in the 
origin of species or, more exactly, in the trans- 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

mutation of species, a clear negative may be 
unhesitatingly given. Such a doctrine seems at 
every point to lie outside his thought. True 
enough, he says, that " on this earth alone " 
there is to be found " a vast series of ascending 
planes of development" (6:275), This series, 
however, if indeed it refers to anything more than 
man's cultural development, is Aristotelian not 
Darwinian in its nature. The planes differ in 
worth because of the different degrees in which 
they exhibit the spirit of life or consciousness ; 
the higher in no sense spring from the lower. 
So far as that goes, all come with equal directness 
from God. An example of this manner of think- 
ing is seen in Froebel's approval (in 1827) of 
Batsch's teaching (of 1799) " that the skeleton of 
man should be considered as the fundamental 
type which nature strove to produce even in the 
lower forms of creation " (2 : 31). 

That development is the general law and that 
" all development . . . proceeds according to the 
same law " (8 : 150) are — if we scrutinize not too 
closely — now but commonplaces of thought. 
Froebel belongs here to that group of thinkers 

24 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

who in their philosophy anticipated certain 
general viewpoints later to be established by 
science. But we should err greatly if we sup- 
posed Froebel had in mind as the " one law " 
such a conception as Darwin's " natural selec- 
tion." His one law was Fichte's thesis, antithesis 
and synthesis, which the kindergartners have 
called the " law of opposites." When we con- 
sider that Froebel's " cosmical development of 
the universe " and his " entire world-process " 
have in them nothing analogous to an " origin of 
species," and that for him all " development is 
due to the reconciliation of opposites through the 
link of mediation " (6 : 298) ; it is evident that 
we should go astray to number him among the 
evolutionists in the more ordinary biologic sense. 
His adherence to Aristotelianism was greater 
even than that of many of his contemporaries. 
He was, however, a pWlosophical eyolutionist. 
Taking the universe as a whole and humanity in 
particular, Froebel emphasized the idea of a 
constant rising to ever higher levels. " In 
God's world, just because it is God's and came 
through him, something is steadily expressed, 

25 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

and it is an unbroken progressive development 
in and through all things " (3 : 154). "Human 
history shows the same uninterrupted develop- 
ment as the universe " (8 : 150). 

The parallelism of all development. — It was 
pointed out in Chapter I that in Froebel's opinion 
" nature and man have their origin in one and 
the same eternal Being, and that their develop- 
ment takes place in accordance with the same 
laws only at different stages " (1 : 161). There 
results from this a " high symbolic meaning of 
the different individual phenomena of nature, 
particularly in the phases of development of 
natural objects in relation to the stadia of human 
development " (1 : 160). This means that since 
human development and plant development, 
for example, are both similarly the effort of the 
Spirit to express itself through the same laws, 
the two developments must throw light upon 
each other ; the corresponding stages must show 
an immediate analogic connection. The signifi- 
cance of this parallelism is a theme to which 
Froebel reverts again and again. We have 
already noted that trees are not only " certainly 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

reliable " but " outwardly intelligible," and that 
man can *' learn from them with certainty the 
thing to be done at every moment of life " 
(1 : 159). Elsewhere Froebel says, " Whatever 
we little children ask, you flowers always 
answer" (3:186*). 

It is of course difficult to demand that so 
poetic a statement as the last shall yield a literal 
return ; and many would accordingly say that one 
is lacking either in imagination or in senSe of 
humor to insist on anything further. It would 
be a mistake, however, to suppose that Froebel 
intends his statements to be taken in any such 
imaginative fashion ; they are for him literal 
scientific pronouncements. At times he uses 
language sufficiently prosaic to disabuse any 
mind of the poetic hypothesis. Thus at the 
end of a long discussion of crystals, he says : 
" In the entire process of the development of 
the crystal . . . there is a highly remarkable 
agreement with the development of the human 
mind and of the human heart. Man, too, in 
his external manifestation — like the crystal 
— bearing within himself the living unity, shows 

27 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

at first more one-rsidedness, individuality, and 
incompleteness, and only at a later period rises 
to all sidedness, harmony and completeness " 
(1 : 173). Similarly, the cube as a crystalline 
form is " the first general manifestation of the 
great natural laws and tendencies to represent 
each thing in unity, individuality, and diver- 
sity ; to generalize the most particular, and to 
represent the most general in the most partic- 
ular ; and, lastly, to make the internal external, 
the external internal, and to represent both in 
harmony and union" (1:175). It is in view 
of the foregoing that Froebel concludes : "If, 
at the same time, we keep in mind that man, 
too, is wholly subject to these great laws, . . . 
these considerations will reveal to us also the 
nature of man, and teach us how to develop and 
educate him in accordance with the laws of 
nature and of his being " (1 : 176*). 

If the reader will have the patience to study 
the foregoing quotations with some care, he 
will get Froebel's view even better from these 
unusual statements than from some less for- 
bidding instances. Froebel likes to describe 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

development in most formal terminology. 
*' Represent each thing in unity, individuality, 
and diversity," this is a phrase which repeatedly 
occurs. " To generalize the most particular, 
and to represent the most general in the most 
particular " occurs in one form or another not 
less than fifty times. " Make the internal 
external, the external internal " is found in 
direct or indirect form more than one hundred 
times. Such formulations Froebel calls " great 
natural laws." The ease with which he could 
find illustrative instances of such formal " laws " 
seemed to Froebel proof of their validity ; 
while in fact it works to the contrary. Two 
extreme cases of " making the internal external " 
will illustrate the point. First, a child in play 
builds a block house in order that " his inward 
desire may also appear externally " (5 : 59) — 
a confusion of result with purpose, but let that 
pass. Second, early animal life had its bony 
structure outside and its flesh inside, as in the 
crustaceans ; later animals have reversed this, 
putting their bones inside, and the flesh out- 
side ; *' what in lower forms was external is 

29 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

now internal " (1 : 197). To include such di- 
verse instances under one law is more like 
punning than science; yet it is thoroughly 
characteristic of Froebel. 

With this attitude of mind Froebel seeks 
analogies between man and lower nature. 
Consider the case of the crystal quoted above. 
Incompleteness, he says, is characteristic of the 
early crystalline form and of the child, while 
harmony and completeness are characteristic 
of the later crystalline forms and of the fully 
developed man. The analogy as stated may be 
true, but what new light or suggestion has come 
from the crystal. Immaturity was first thought 
of in man, and later found in the crystal. So 
in general, where nature is said to throw light 
on man, a trait is noted first in man, then read 
into the lower form, and finally retraced in 
man himself. This practice appears in almost 
every one of the well-nigh innumerable instances 
of analogy and symbolism. Consider the parallel- 
ism of man with trees. In what sense can it 
be said that we learn our duty from the trees? 
Only if we have already generalized our notion 

30 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

of man's duty to such a degree that we can see 
some analogy between the tree's struggle and 
man's struggle. But again the thought has 
moved from man to the tree before it moved 
from the tree to man. The parallelism is a 
specious affair, and well illustrates the working 
of Froebel's mind. 

The doctrine of "correspondences." — An- 
other form of the parallelism of development 
is the so-called law of " correspondences," the 
doctrine that mind or spirit and nature are 
parallel manifestations of God. Schelling ad- 
vanced the doctrine to account for the agree- 
ment between thinking and its objective counter- 
part in nature, a problem which proves very 
difficult to many philosophic schools. If, to 
avoid philosophic controversy, we make no 
special assumptions in the premises, we shall 
have no objection to admitting the existence of 
at least a working agreement between any valid 
thought and its object. The objection comes 
in when the agreement admitted in such cases 
is carried over into another realm in such manner 
as to give some sort of metaphysically exis- 

31 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

tential relationship to mere analogies. Froebel 
seems constantly to feel, though I have found no 
specific assertion of the position, that there is 
some intrinsic, absolutely existent connection 
between the ball, for example, and unity ; as 
if the ball must inherently symbolize unity. 
Such an absolute symbolic character is neces- 
sary before the symbol can for Froebel waken 
to consciousness the thought germs which are 
assumed to be slumbering in the child's mind. 
The discussion of this practical bearing of the 
doctrine of " correspondences " will be given 
in Chapter III in the treatment of symbolism. 
Here is it perhaps suflScient to say that no one 
outside the ranks of the traditional kindergart- 
ners accepts Froebelian " correspondences." 

Inter-connectedness. — The law of inter-con- 
nectedness, while largely a corollary of the pre- 
ceding laws, demands separate treatment ; partly 
because it is more general than they, and partly 
because it has a larger number of practical 
bearings. Further, it carries added interest 
because it furnishes some of the most bizarre of 
Froebel's teachings. In general this law in- 

32 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

eludes all manner of eonnectedness whatsoever 
that can subsist between any two things in the 
universe. In a narrower sense, it includes all 
those connections which arise from the opera- 
tion of any one law. If any specific law be 
conceived as cause — and Froebel seemed so 
to conceive natural laws — the several common 
effects of the law wherever found would furnish 
instances of inter-connectedness. In this nar- 
row sense of causal connection we can accept 
with little or no modification the dictum of 
Froebel that everything should be taught in its 
connections. If this were all, there would be 
no need of discussion. 

Froebel's science, however, is not always 
above reproach, so that some instances put 
forward by him as serious cases of valuable 
inter-connections would to-day not carry weight. 
Most interesting of these perhaps are his studies 
of language. His most loyal followers, even 
those who speak with respect of his crystallog- 
raphy, are forced to regret Froebel's incur- 
sions into the field of philology. His general 
position is this : " All the laws of the inner 
D S3 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

and outer world, collectively and singly, must 
be revealed in language, must lie in language 
itself " (1 : 211).^ Following this general state- 
ment is a more specific one which is evidently 
intended to supply the basis for his plays on 
words : "In spite of . . . imperfection and frag- 
mentariness of our experiments and knowledge, 
however, we cannot repress the conviction, 
corroborated at every step, that in every lan- 
guage — primarily in our mother tongue (Ger- 
man) — the sounds and letters in their combina- 
tions express definite and fixed mathematical, 
physical, physico-psychical laws, resting on 
inner necessity ; that the representation of an 
object, . . . necessarily demands certain sounds 
and letters and no others, so that each word 
is the necessary product of certain word-ele- 
ments, just as each material chemical product 
is the result of the combination of certain 
determinate elementary substances" (1:213). 
Thus " the word ball, in our significant lan- 
guage, is full of expression and meaning, pointing 

^ It may be remarked that the assertion contained in this quotation 
is an instance of the law of the Gliedganzes later to be discussed. 

34 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

out that the ball is, as it were, an image of the 
All {der B-all . . . ist ein Bild des All) " (4 : 32). 
Similarly the eight one-inch cubes when placed 
in the form of a two-inch cube — whence they 
were derived in the gift series — say, "as it 
were, silently and always anew to the inventor 
and observer ' Hab' acht! hah' acht! Take 
notice! take notice!'" (4:131*).^ Elsewhere 
Froebel speaks of this latter pun as " a higher 
insight into language " (5 : 211). 

Closely related to the puns are other lin- 
guistic instances of the law of connectedness. 
" It was more particularly a deep philosophical 
{hohere physikalische) view of language which 
eventually absorbed my thoughts. . . . It seemed 
to me that the vowels . . . resembled, so to speak, 
force, spirit, the (inner) subject, whilst the con- 
sonants symbolized matter, body, the (outer) 
object. But . . . one perceives within the sphere 
of speech-tones the two opposites of subject 
and object. For example, the sound i depicts 
the absolute subject, the center, and the sound 
a the absolute material object ; the sound e 

1 Eab' acht means "have eight" as well as "take notice." 
35 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

serves for life as such, for existence in general ; 
and for individual life, for an existence nar- 
rowed to itself alone " (2 : 98 f.). Similarly else- 
where, *' although the laws to which letters owe 
their origin and development have become 
obscured, the little that is left of their first 
rudiments seems to point unequivocally to an 
inner connection between the form and the 
meaning — e.g. the letter as symbol in the 
word for the idea of absolute self -limitation, and 
the letter S as symbol in the word for the idea 
of a return to self " (1 : 223 f.). 

One of the most mystical instances of inter- 
connectedness is seen in number. " Arithme- 
tic (Zahl) may be considered, firstly as the 
outward expression of the manifestation of 
force" (2:100). More specifically, "number 
... is determined by the external manifestations 
of the directions of inner energy " (1 : 203). 
The number five in particular *' comes fraught 
with remarkable symbolism and significance " 
(1 : 190). " As developed under the influence 
of life force, it is truly the number of analytic 
and synthetic life, representing reason, unceasing 

36 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

self -development, self -elevation " (1 : 192). In 
fact, " wherever the number five appears, 
there is unmistakable evidence of a higher 
phase of life" (1:193). Thus "all kernel 
and stone-fruit trees, and all plants which be- 
long to this family, express the number five 
in their blossoms, as though the special enjoy- 
ableness of these fruits lay in their law of the 
number five running through them" (3:160). 
To portray the significance of this number, in the 
Mother Play book a picture is given to the 
family of the five fingers, in which one wearies 
counting the number of fives : five people, 
five deer, five rabbits, etc., etc. Certainly 
twenty-five separate groups of five appear in 
this one picture. When it is recalled that the 
orthodox conservative kindergartner believes 
that these symbolic pictures have therein peda- 
gogic effect, the limit of mystic credulity seems 
surely found. 

We may conclude this topic by putting into 
words what has doubtless already been in the 
reader's mind, namely, that whatever else may 
be true of Froebel, his sense of humor was 

37 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

lacking. On no other basis could these absurdi- 
ties have been published. And, indeed, the 
failing is characteristic of the man. We shall 
have occasion from time to time to point out 
instances where a principle, good or at least 
plausible if kept within bounds, has been 
pushed to absurd extremes. Man might, con- 
ceivably, get a hint from the tree life as to the 
nature of his own struggle for existence ; but 
this is far from saying that from the tree he can 
learn " with certainty the thing to be done at 
every moment of life." There are laws explain- 
ing the presence of certain letters, " Grimm's 
law " for the mutation of consonants, for exam- 
ple ; but to speak of the " i sound as depicting 
the absolute subject " and " the letter o as 
symbol in the word for the idea of absolute self- 
limitation," — these things and the puns and 
the symbolic significance of the number five ! 
Inter-connectedness can go no farther. 

The member- whole relationship. — The doc- 
trine of the Gliedganzes furnishes yet another 
instance of how Froebel could hold to a good 
doctrine and at the same time base it on an 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

untenable principle. By Gliedganzes Froebel 
means that each member repeats or mirrors, 
in some sense, the whole to which it belongs. 
This would be true of man as a member of so- 
ciety and of a leaf as a part of a plant. Within 
limits the Gliedganzes, member-whole concept, 
furnishes a fairly correct statement of the re- 
lation of the individual to society ; carried to 
the extreme, it becomes difficult of understand- 
ing, and impossible of acceptance. First on 
the social side : " How and through what is this 
feeling awakened on the part of the child of his 
twofold relation as a part-whole .f^ . . . This 
feeling is awakened by almost all that is done 
for or with the child. In manifold ways he feels 
and sees himself (especially through his op- 
positeness to grown-up people) as a particular 
and individual thing in contradistinction to the 
general and collective. But . . . while with his 
parents . . . or at least in company of real edu- 
cators . . . the child soon feels an invisible but 
uniting bond, which embraces all grown-up 
people " (5:6). " At its entrance into the 
kindergarten the child enters into a manifoldly 

39 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

new relation of life, . . . first of all into relations 
with a number of companions, and with those 
companions as individual parts of a whole, but 
he is himself also a part of this whole, and as 
he has gained or lost from the whole, he has 
also duties toward it" (5:270). As far as 
these statements go, it would be hard to make 
better. The individual from one point of view 
is one, a whole — the very word individual asserts 
this most explicitly ; from still another view- 
point, he is but a part of the social whole, owing 
to it his origin, his continued existence, and the 
content of his life. He is in fact a part-whole, 
a Gliedganzes. 

But Froebel, in company with Schelling, 
carries the doctrine farther. " That which lies 
in a whole lies also in the smallest part of it " 
(5:174). "The essential nature of the whole 
plant lies in some peculiar manner in each indi- 
vidual part of the plant" (1:195). "Each 
successive formation presents the essential na- 
ture of the plant in a more subtile garb, until 
at last it seems clothed only in a delicate per- 
fume " (1 : 194). Certain blossoms do seem 

40 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

to be but leaves transformed, and probably 
some such fact as this is for Froebel the sub- 
stantiation of the doctrine ; but the origin of 
the doctrine is older than Froebel's observation 
of plants, older even than Schelling. The 
*' essential nature " is clearly the medieval 
" essence," which as species was to the scholas- 
tic necessarily present in all the subsumed 
individual members of the species. " Does 
not the whole tree life — indeed the whole 
vegetable life — work already in each germinat- 
ing seed of the tree? " (4 : 94). This is a good 
statement of medieval realism, in which logic 
and science merge. Every tree is vegetable, 
and, in this logic, is so by the presence of a 
certain vegetable essence. This essence must 
be the same wherever found, so the *' whole 
vegetable life " (in this technical sense) is in 
the tree. In the same way the tree essence 
must be in the seed, for — according to this 
logic — it is the tree essence which present in 
the seed " forms " the "matter " (soil, etc.) 
into a new tree of its kind. If now the vege- 
table essence is in the tree as a part of its specific 

41 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

essence, so must the " whole vegetable life," 
as part of the tree essence, work likewise in the 
seed. An " essence," in this realistic sense, 
is unknown in these scientific days, so the whole 
argument falls to the ground. We may there- 
fore reject without further ado the doctrine that 
" that which lies in a whole lies also in the small- 
est part of it." The social aspect of the member- 
whole doctrine we accept, but not for these 
metaphysical reasons. 

The law of opposites. — It was pointed out 
in Chapter I that the law of opposites is for 
Froebel " the fundamental law in the universe " 
(5:31). Its educational importance was seen 
in the explicit statement that : " the whole 
meaning of my educational method rests upon 
this law alone. The method stands or falls 
with the recognition or non-recognition of it " 
(8:228). This very strong assertion is prob- 
ably justified if we identify Froebel's " educa- 
tional method " with the gift series and with its 
use as laid down by him. Whether the asser- 
tion is absolutely true can be answered only 
after a close examination. This will necessa- 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

rily lead us into wearisome details ; for on this 
doctrine Froebel's thinking is unusually obscure. 
At the outset we find difficulty in stating 
the law in terms that admit of specific applica- 
tion. In fact Froebel wavers between two 
somewhat diverse conceptions of the law, with- 
out apparent consciousness of his wavering. 
The following rather definite statement we 
shall call Case I : '* The fundamental law of 
all advance, development, and cultivation (thus, 
in general, of all education) is to proceed from 
any given thing to the pure opposite within 
this given thing " (5: 101). The context illus- 
trates the meaning. A paper square has just 
been folded along one diagonal, and opened 
out so as to present this appearance I . I . 
The question then arises, What step should 
follow?^ Froebel himself folds the square so 
as to make a horizontal line across the middle : 
Other instances of Case I as given by 



' The writer begs that the reader will, before going farther, seek to 
apply the law by deciding what folding of the paper is "the pure oppo- 
site within this given thing." This question has often been proposed 
by the writer to professed adherents of the law, but they never agree on 
Froebel's answer. 

43 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

Froebel are : *' The advance from the undivided 
is, according to the ruling law of opposites, to 
the divided" (5:91). Again when Lina is 
learning to write, her mother immediately con- 
nects therewith " its opposite," reading (5 : 12). 
All these applications may be accepted as 
consistent with each other and in accordance 
with the law as enunciated in Case I. 

But elsewhere Froebel speaks of *' the recon- 
ciliation of opposites by a mediating link " 
(6 : 275 f.) ; and again of " the conscious appli- 
cation of the connecting third (between each 
two things, qualities, etc., which are opposite to 
yet like one another)" (5:31). In the law, 
as stated in Case I, no mention was made of a 
" mediating link " or a *' connecting third." 
Here then is a second case (Case II), which 
directs us as follows : When the situation 
includes two opposed elements, seek such a 
third as will reconcile or harmonize the two. 
The search may be undertaken in hope, for 
according to Froebel " in nature and in life a 
third connecting appearance always shows itself 
between two purely opposite appearances " 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

(4 : 232) . Two instances of this Case II will 
suffice for illustration : The spoken word is 
*' that which is intermediate between the purely 
internal, invisible thought and the completely 
external abidingly visible sign (the writing). 
It unites in itself the nature and properties of 
both thought and writing, and thus connects 
them" (5:31). "The sphere and cube are 
pure opposites. . . . The law of connection 
demands for these two opposite yet like bodies 
and objects of play a connecting one, which is 
the cylinder" (5:204). 

So far we have little more than statement and 
illustration, lying principally within an appar- 
ently artificial field of Froebel's own making. 
We wish, however, to know the use of the law as 
a general guide to educational thought or prac- 
tice. It will be convenient to treat the two 
cases of the law separately. Froebel uses Case 
I in at least three ways : (1) in teaching such 
opposed concepts as rough and smooth and the 
like; (2) in arranging the blocks so as to produce 
the " beauty forms " ; and (3) professedly in 
ordinary educational procedure and practical 

45 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

life situations. We shall take these up in 
order. 

As to the advisability of teaching simultane- 
ously such paired opposite concepts as rough 
and smooth, hard and soft, and the like, there 
will be little difference of opinion. If two con- 
cepts emerge together in the learner's conscious- 
ness — and quite a number do — they should 
probably receive simultaneous consideration 
from the parent or teacher. This does not 
mean that all " opposites " should be so treated, 
but only such as emerge simultaneously to the 
learner. It is possible, for example, that the 
young child may learn under better without 
any reference to over, in spite of the fact that 
the two are paired opposites. While a certain 
validity is thus granted to the law in this in- 
stance of Case I, the law itself probably fails 
in not discriminating as to which opposites 
should be so taught and which not. As stated, 
the law seems to apply to all instances of paired 
opposites ; in practice, it applies only to a por- 
tion of these. 

Further removed from ordinary school prac- 

46 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

tice is the use of the law of opposites to help in 
the making of " beauty forms." Kindergarten 
*' beauty forms " are those arrangements of 
the building blocks which are designed to appeal 
to the esthetic. As usually made, they are 
symmetric about a center. The blocks are 
thus put down in pairs on " opposite " sides of 
the center or of the coordinate axes. Simi- 
larly, from any one " beauty form " a second 
can be made by shifting each block into the 
*' opposite " direction {e.g. at right angles to its 
former position). Froebel counted that these 
two uses of the law of opposites enabled the 
children to devise for themselves many such 
beauty forms. That there is something in this 
is undoubted, but how much.^* Are beauty 
forms got in this way really worth while ? The 
answer seems not difficult. Outside the ranks 
of the conservative kindergarten no one seems 
to think the game is worth the candle. No 
drawing teacher cares to refer to the law of 
opposites, and progressive kindergartners are 
abandoning it. Froebel himself is more con- 
cerned to symbolize the law by the " beauty 

47 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

forms " than he is to use the " beauty forms " 
for their own sake. Closing a discussion of 
the subject, he says : " The illustration of this 
universal law by means of perceptible phenom- 
ena is, in our judgment, as important for the 
heart and soul culture of the child as the . . . 
inhalation of air from the atmosphere " (4 : 190). 
The most then that can be claimed in connection 
with the " beauty forms " is a doubtful utiliza- 
tion of the law in an activity of no very great 
worth. Evidently this does not go far towards 
proving the universal validity of the law. 

The third and last application of Case I of 
the law of opposites, namely, to the direction 
of actual school and life situations, is diflScult 
because Froebel gives so few clear-cut illustra- 
tions. We shall consider the three most plau- 
sible instances. When Lina is learning to 
write, her mother joins with writing its " oppo- 
site," reading (5 : 12). Whether this was the 
sole consideration in joining the two, Froebel 
does not say. In all probability the law was 
an afterthought. Looking back on what had 
been done, Froebel was able to see an instance 

48 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

of his favorite law. He deceived himself into 
thinking that the law had guided him. Wholly 
different reasons for combining reading with 
writing are so obvious and so satisfactory that 
we need not give any weight to the law here. 
In another instance, Froebel advises the mother 
to name to her children the activities in which 
they engage. This will " heighten " the effect. 
He then adds : " Word and form are opposite, 
and yet related. Hence the word should al- 
ways accompany the form as its shadow." 
He closes the discussion with the words : 
*' Through the name, moreover, the form is 
retained in memory and defined to thought " 
(4: 191 f.). This is interesting in that Froebel 
gives a valid reason for naming the activity, 
both before and after the reference to the law 
of opposites. It is the more interesting to 
know that in no less than twenty instances 
Froebel repeats the same valid reason here 
given, but only this once does he base the 
practice of naming the act upon the law of 
opposites. Thus again it is evident that the 
moving cause is quite other than the law of 
£ 49 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

opposites ; again Froebel looked back and 
found his law present, and was again deceived. 
A third instance, already referred to, is that of 
folding the paper square. It will be recalled 



that the resulting form .. ■ was professedly 
got by the law of opposites. Froebel eventu- 
ally shows (5 : 101 ff.) by this figure that the 
isosceles right triangle is equal to a rectangle of 
the same base and half the altitude. In this geo- 
metrical reasoning, evidently, is found the cause 
for choosing the unexpected opposite.^ The 
conclusion seems irresistible that Froebel folded 
his square to prove his proposition, and after- 
wards found that he had used an opposite, — 
I will not say the opposite. 

Of the three ways of using Case I of the law 
under consideration, only two disclose any sort 
of support for the assumed principle, the learn- 
ing of certain paired opposites and the finding 
of " beauty forms." The connection between 
these two is, however, so slight, so accidental 
rather than essential, that we cannot call them 

^ Practically every one expects the other diagonal and not the hori- 
zontal Une. 

50 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

instances of one law unless more convincing 
considerations can be brought forward. Further 
study disclosed, moreover, greater weakness. 
Recall the three instances brought forward 
under the third application. In each of these 
we refused to believe that the law guided ; yet 
when they are considered in retrospect, there 
is a seeming verification. But consider any 
two things soever, they are " opposite " at 
least in some respect (Froebel's own instances 
are as far-fetched as any can be). It thus 
happens that whatever course any one might 
arbitrarily choose would be " going from one 
thing to its opposite." All courses whatsoever 
then equally fulfill the requirements of the law. 
But a law that presents absolutely no basis for 
prospective selection is no law at all. For it is 
the very nature of a law that it tell us before- 
hand what results to expect according as we 
act one way or the other. The law of gravita- 
tion tells me what conduct to expect of a stone. 
If I leave it unsupported, it will fall towards the 
earth. If I support it, pressure will ensue. 
But what does this law of opposites (Case I) 

51 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

tell me ? Not one thing. It professes to tell 
me that I will go right if I choose my course so 
that opposites be joined. In reality whatever 
I do will equally join opposites. So far then as 
Case I is concerned the law has no validity. 
The teaching of paired opposites gains its 
validity from certain psychological considera- 
tions that must be considered in and of them- 
selves. Similarly what little validity there is 
to the building of " beauty forms " by this rule 
is to be explained as the accidental coincidence 
of the " law " with certain considerations of 
symmetrical figures. In neither instance do 
we gain by referring to the assumed law. As a 
rule for directing general conduct it is worth- 
less. 

The discussion for Case II is different. Here 
we should make " the conscious application of 
the connecting third between things which are 
opposite to yet like one another." We could 
again point out that there are no two things 
which are not " opposite to yet like one an- 
other " (at least within limits no wider drawn 
than Froebel's own) ; but other considerations 

52 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

suffice. In a certain favorable light, what we 
have here is an analysis of a problem situation, 
namely, that where two or more opposing ele- 
ments make diverse demands upon us, we should 
solve the problem by some third course or point 
of view which will reconcile the opposition. 
This is a very formal sort of affair. Can 
we get guidance from it.^^ On the face of it, 
the solution sought would always be some third 
course, other than the two opposites, which 
reconciles them. But is this trucf^ Suppose a 
boy guilty of some fault is debating whether 
to acknowledge it or deny it, what is the third 
course which shall reconcile the two opposites 
of truth and falsehood.'^ Suppose on a journey 
I reach an unknown fork in the road, what 
direction will this law give me ? It seems true, 
when a problem has arisen because diverse 
aspects of a situation have been unwarrantably 
opposed to each other, that some third point of 
view will serve to reconcile the opposition. 
Professor Dewey's treatment of the child and 
the curriculum in an essay of that name affords 
an excellent example. Case II of the " law " is 

53 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

thus, at best, a formal description of a solution 
to one kind of problem. To call such a descrip- 
tion a law is to mislead, not to help. 

It appears then that Froebel was sadly mis- 
taken in saying that he based his educational 
practice on the " law of opposites." Certain 
artificial portions of his practice, he did in fact 
base on the " law," and these accordingly stand 
unsupported, as we shall later discuss. The 
vital portions of his education, however, are 
independent of any such mistaken principle. 

Lest any one should feel that we have dealt 
unfairly with Froebel when we have spoken of 
far-fetched illustrations, we give a few of the 
more remarkable : 

(1) " This law [of the connection of opposites] 
is again expressed ... in the voice sounds them- 
selves, since the sound o connects the two purely 
opposite sounds a and m, the first of which ex- 
presses materiality and the second essence. . . . 
We cannot combine the a with the u in the sound 
of plain au without being obliged to use also the 
sound o, so that when we say au we actually say 
aou. . . . Language is an organic construction 

54 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

of opposites, a whole which is in itself single " 
(5:33). (2) Having got the building bricks 
(the fourth gift) the problem arises as to the 
character of the next gift : " Vertical and 
horizontal lines are both straight lines. They 
are also in their directions contrasting lines. 
Contrasts in accordance with the universal 
law of development imply mediation. The 
diagonal mediates the contrasting right lines, 
and hence is demanded by them" (4:203). 
The triangular prism is the result. Berkeley 
somewhere speaks of " a mind debauched with 
learning." Surely no small degree of mental 
debauchery would be necessary to make this 
deduction acceptable. (3) Perhaps the most 
extraordinary instance of all is found in one of 
the letters : " You will remember the great 
value I used to attach ... to the reconciliation 
of opposites by a mediating link. I think I can 
offer you a striking proof of the justice of my 
views in this regard, drawn from your own life. 
. . . You know . . . what sharply contrasted op- 
posites we find in North and South Germany. . . . 
You, dear Luise, are a Viennese, a South Ger- 

55 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

man ; and the mediating link of my own life 
has served to connect you with your opposite. 
Madam Doris Lutkens, a North German, by 
the most perfect and stable relationship. Then, 
again, how do you become connected with 
Madam R. B. ? . . . Is there any opposition 
between North Germany and Hamburg? Per- 
haps not much : but Madam B. learnt kinder- 
garten principles in Baden, pondered over them 
a whole month by herself. At last in stony 
Berlin, the spark kindled into a flame, and she 
turned towards the North, towards yourself at 
Hamburg, to satisfy the wishes, the maternal 
necessities, which had been borne in upon her . . . 
in the South (Baden). . . . Acknowledge, then, 
in these occurrences . . . the truth of the 
kindergarten principle" (6 : 275 f.). 

Summary of the chapter. — With this closes 
our examination of the more fundamental prin- 
ciples underlying Froebel's educational doc- 
trine. His idealistic philosophy was passed 
over without attempt at evaluation lest the 
remainder of the examination should seem to 
be based on the position there taken. While 

56 



THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES EXAMINED 

the term pantheism seemed appropriate to 
Froebel, there were nevertheless departures 
from such a position in the direction of a more 
popular belief. As regards the doctrine of 
development, Froebel was counted not to hold 
to the evolution of higher biologic forms from 
lower, which is characteristic of modern post- 
Darwinian evolution. He did, however, hold 
to a general cosmic development in the sense 
that lower forms appeared earlier than higher. 
He also held that humanity is constantly de- 
veloping to a higher and higher plane. The 
parallelism of man and nature which meant 
so much to Froebel seemed, upon examination, 
to be relatively insignificant. The doctrine of 
" correspondences " was granted to have only 
metaphorical validity, and not much of that. 
So far as the law of inter-connectedness con- 
templated the teaching of things in their causal 
connection with relation to ends, it was granted 
full validity. Beyond this it tended to be fan- 
tastic in the extreme. The doctrine of the 
Gliedganzes, or member-whole relationship, was 
held to be a good statement of the relation of 

57 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

the individual to society, but in other respects 
either irrelevant or untenable. The law of 
opposites, which Froebel held to be fundamental 
to his educational system was, upon examination, 
found to be little better than a delusion and a 
snare. The next chapter brings us to a con- 
sideration of the psychological doctrines more 
intimately connected with the educational prac- 
tice. 



58 



CHAPTER III 

froebel's educational psychology 

Having examined the more fundamental con- 
ceptions in Froebel's thinking, we may now take 
a step nearer to his educational practice, and ask 
what psychological doctrines characterize the 
system and what validity attaches to them. 

The doctrine of development. — In the fore- 
front is found the doctrine of development, 
already discussed in part. Recapitulation in 
the moral realm, one aspect of the general notion 
of development, requires here but few words 
in addition to what has already been said 
(page 7). As we saw, Froebel held that " child 
development requires for the religious life the 
same series of steps as is found in the develop- 
ment of the human race — that is, it must be 
done as God himself has conducted the educa- 
tion of the human race" (8:190*).^ And 

^ The translation given in 8 : 190 is incorrect. Froebel undoubtedly 
means here as elsewhere to give expression to Lessing's idea as found in 
Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts (1780). 

59 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

again, " the observation of the development of 
individual man and its comparison with the 
general development of the human race show 
plainly that, in the development of the inner 
life of the individual man, the history of the 
spiritual development of the race is repeated, 
and that the race in its totality may be viewed 
as one human being, in whom there will be found 
the necessary steps in the development of in- 
dividual man " (1 : 160). Since Froebel uses 
this doctrine of moral recapitulation not other- 
wise than as an instance of the parallelism of 
all development, we need not here repeat our 
discussion of that point (see pages 5 ff. above). 
As to the validity at present allowed to the 
theory of recapitulation, it suffices to say that 
most competent writers now find in the doctrine 
little of value for education.^ 

Froebel's belief in innate ideas. — The phase 
of the doctrine of development which most 
interests us here is a more or less explicit belief 
in the existence of innate ideas, though Froebel 

' For discussions of this point see Thorndike, Educational Psychology 
(1913), I, 245 ff. ; Davidson, The Recapitulation Theory and Human 
Infancy. 

60 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

does not use this term. This belief of Froebel's 
was stated in Chapter I, where it was brought 
out that Froebel took Pestalozzi's educational 
doctrine of development in the preformation 
sense. " All that the child is ever to be and 
become, lies — however slightly indicated — in 
the child " (1 : 68). " As the life of man in all 
the necessary variety of its phenomena is in 
itself a complete unity, one can recognize and 
consider even in the first baby life, though only 
in their slightest traces and most delicate germs, 
all the spiritual activities which in later life 
become predominant. ... If they [the spiritual 
tendencies] were not contained in the little child, 
they would not be developed at all from it " 
(4:30). That Froebel did believe in the pres- 
ence of certain ideas slumbering in the child's 
mind seems even more clearly indicated in the 
following passage : " How could such antitheses ^ 
. . . which only come into the comparing, con- 
sidering, mature thinking mind, even exist in 
the child's dream-like condition.'^ We repeat 

1 Miss Jarvis, influenced by the evident meaning of the context, has 
actually used the words "contrasted ideas," but I have preferred a more 
literal translation lest I seem to assume the point I wish to prove. 

61 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

here once more what we have already said else- 
where : Did it not lie in the child, did it not live 
and work in the child, did it not already define 
the child's life, it could by no means come out 
from it at a later period " (4 : 94*). The reader 
is asked to note this strong statement, for in 
the writer's judgment Froebel here said exactly 
what he fundamentally believed. "Antitheses" 
which belong normally to " the mature think- 
ing mind," not only " exist in the child's dream- 
like condition " ; but they " live and work 
in the child," they " already define the child's 
life," even in " the first baby life," as said 
above. 

The references in Froebel's writings which 
assume this doctrine are almost innumerable. 
Such words as " premonition," " anticipation," 
" presentiment," " dimly perceptible," and the 
like, all refer to the innate ideas slumbering in 
the child's mind. The child " destined to con- 
sciousness " is " already in anticipation con- 
scious of his nature" (4:11). "The child 
must bring into exercise the dim anticipations 
of conscious life in itself " (4 : 31). " The child, 

62 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

feeling himself a whole, early seeks . . . even at 
the stage of unconsciousness, always to contem- 
plate, to grasp, and to possess a whole " (4 : 33). 
This last quotation is quite characteristic. 
According to Froebel each person is ipso facto a 
whole, and must upon reaching the state of 
full self -consciousness recognize that fact. Con- 
sequently this fundamental conception, the 
recognition of his unity, must lie slumbering in 
the child's mind — else " it could by no means 
come out from it at a later period." If this be 
so, the child " even at the stage of unconscious- 
ness " must in some way " feel himself a whole " 
— this is one of the " dim anticipations " re- 
ferred to above. Because of this feeling, he 
must wish " to contemplate, to grasp, and to 
possess a whole." This " dim anticipation " 
must be brought " into exercise " ; accordingly 
he must be allowed some " whole " to play with, 
by which Froebel here means the ball. The 
full significance of bringing " into exercise " the 
" anticipation " will appear in the later discus- 
sion of symbolism. 

Some instances of Froebel's innate ideas are 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

particularly interesting. Among these the an- 
ticipation of unity plays an important part. 
In the " child's first clear gaze, ... he anticipates 
the future (though as yet deeply slumbering) 
unity of life " (4 : 29). " A deep and significant 
feeling of anticipation and longing aspiration 
occupies the boy's mind in all he does during 
this period. All he does bears a common 
character, for he seeks the unity that unites all 
things and beings " (1 : 126). Symbolically con- 
nected with the concept of unity are, in Froebel's 
mind, the sphere and the circle. These have in 
his eyes profound interest for the child : " Chil- 
dren are impelled by a certain anticipation and 
dim ineffable feeling which urges them on in 
quite a remarkable and special way to the un- 
wearied pursuit of circular action games ; these 
lead them towards a comprehension of the solar 
system and the orbital motion of worlds " 
(6:91*). Perhaps the most interesting of all 
premonitions attributed by Froebel to children 
is that regarding timepieces. " Children are 
intensely charmed by everything that is like a 
clock . . . you would say that as to a watch it is 

64 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

the movement, the works, the apparent Hfe." 
But, says Froebel, "as a rule it is certainly 
not " this, for children have shown a similar 
interest in the sun dial, where they saw no 
movement. My own opinion, says he, is " that 
at the bottom of this pleasure lies a deeply 
slumbering premonition of the value of time 
itself" (3:139*). 

What has modern psychology to say to such a 
doctrine .f* Froebel is evidently contemplating 
the same phenomena that at present we include 
under the general head of the instinctive. Is 
the instinct a " deeply slumbering, yet already 
active presentiment," or must we empty it of 
this innate content .f* That there are in the 
child unlearned tendencies is nowhere disputed ; 
but innate slumbering ideas — what of them ? 
The nearest to this that we can admit is found 
in those instincts which under ordinary condi- 
tions lead to the formation of certain correlative 
general ideas. Thus, what has been called 
" the instinct of ' pleasure at being a cause 
will under favorable conditions lead to experi- 
ences, partly individual and partly social, which 
F 65 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

will in turn lead normally to some conception of 
" the law of causation." That we have such 
instincts and that they may under the suggested 
conditions eventuate in certain predictable con- 
ceptions may be freely admitted ; but we must 
as truly deny that these general ideas already 
" live and work in the child," " already define 
the child's life." Fortunately for our ease of 
discussion Froebel so described and illustrated 
his opinion that we have no difficulty in apprais- 
ing it. The child's interest in timepieces 
does not spring " from a deep-slumbering pre- 
monition of the value of time itself." No guess 
could be wider the mark. Nor has the child's 
interest in " circular action games " anything 
to do with an innate anticipation of " the orbital 
motion of worlds." Nor does the child's desire 
for the whole of anything before him have 
any connection with a dawning metaphysical 
interest in a " whole." Such " premonitions " 
and " anticipations " modern psychology re- 
jects with scorn and derision. 

The doctrine of symbolism stated. — Froebel's 
psychology of innate ideas and their unfolding 

66 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

is nowhere more clearly seen than in his doctrine 
of symbolism. The importance of the topic will 
justify a detailed consideration of the argument. 
An illustration of typical symbolism may help 
us to get Froebel's idea. Suppose the adult is 
to have the full concept of the orbital motion 
of worlds ; then by the law of development the 
germ of this idea must at birth lie slumbering 
in the child's mind, and this germ must soon 
show some " anticipations " or *' premoni- 
tions " of this concept. Again as by the law 
of " correspondences " the adult concept " points 
to " or expresses the actual fact of orbital 
motion, so must the germ in the child's mind 
point to or correspond with some analogy or 
likeness (symbol) of the orbital motion, say, 
running around a circle. " Children are im- 
pelled by a certain anticipation and dim in- 
effable feeling which urges them on in quite 
a remarkable and special way to the unwea- 
ried pursuit of circular action games ; these 
lead towards a comprehension of the solar 
system and the orbital motion of worlds " 
(6:91*). 

67 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

A diagram may help us to criticize this doc- 
trine. 

A (Idea Gebm) B (Full Idea) 



A' 1 (Symbol) B' i (Thing 

! ! Symbolized) 



For Froebel, the psychology of symbolism 
assumes four elements related in the following 
manner. The child has the germ {A) of a 
certain idea or concept which the adult is later 
to have in full consciousness (B). This concept 
{B) relates to a certain counterpart {B') which 
is symbolized by some object {^A') lying within 
the child's range of possible experience. There 
is indeed for Froebel a fifth element pervading 
the other four, giving to each its essence, con- 
stituting their correlation and mutual inter- 
actions — namely, the " spiritual " essence 
which is assumed by Froebel to underlie all 
phenomena. When these relations hold, then 
(i) the germ ^A) reaches out toward A' in such 
a way that the child becomes interested in ap- 

68 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

propriating or using the symbol {A') : and (ii) the 
resulting activity with the symbol {A') serves 
to " awaken " the concept germ (A), which 
then develops towards full consciousness (B). 
In the instance given just above, A is the 
slumbering notion of orbital motion, which as 
germ is destined to develop into B, the perfect 
concept of orbital motion. A' is movement in 
" circular action games " which symbolize actual 
orbital motion (B'). Under these circumstances 
(i) the child in obedience to the stirring of A 
is ** impelled " to engage in the circular action 
games (A'), and when the games are actually 
engaged in, (ii) the activity " awakens " the yet 
unconscious germ (A) which then takes on more 
of consciousness as it develops towards a full 
" comprehension (B) of the solar system and 
orbital motion of worlds " (B'). 

Another instance of symbolism may make the 
idea clearer. 

'* The child loyal to its human nature — at 
whatever incomplete and dim stage of observa- 
tion it may be — perceives in the ball the general 
expression of each object as well as of itself as 

69 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

a self-dependent whole and unity. . . . The child, 
feeling himself a whole, early seeks and must 
seek in conformity with his human nature and 
his destiny, even at the stage of unconsciousness, 
always to contemplate, to grasp, and to possess 
a whole " (4 : 32 f.). All four elements are here 
present. A is the germ back of and in the 
child's " feeling himself a whole." B is the full 
adult consciousness that he is himself " a self- 
dependent whole and unity." A' is the ball 
which symbolizes each such whole (B'). From 
this it follows (i) that the child, " even at the 
stage of unconsciousness," seeks the ball, and 
(ii) activity with the ball brings the slumbering 
idea germ to consciousness. " The child likes 
to employ himself with the ball even in early 
life, in order to cultivate and fashion himself, 
though unconsciously, through and by it " 
(4:32). 

The two instances given are not as explicit 
as might be desired in asserting that play with 
the symbol awakens the slumbering idea germ. 
Other references supply this deficiency : " These 
images wake the soul-germs. . . . The still un- 

70 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

thinking mind of the child can be awakened and 
taught only through symbols" (8:8).^ " The 
child's mind unconsciously seeks, must seek, 
according to its organization, for the condi- 
tions upon which its development depends. He 
finds these conditions, and by degrees fulfills 
them by the help of the things surrounding him " 
(8:212). 

The doctrine of symbolism examined. — A 
careful study of Froebel's symbolism will, I 
believe, convince any candid inquirer that the 
analysis above given is an accurate statement of 
Froebel's predominant conception. The ques- 
tion next confronts us as to the validity of this 
psychology and of its consequent educational 
procedure. Four distinct inquiries present them- 
selves : 

(i) Is there present in the child's mind a 
germ (A) which is to unfold into the concept 

(ii) Is there such an inherent connection 
between the symbol (A') and the thing signified 

^ This quotation is a formulation made by Baroness von Marenholtz- 
Biilow, but approved by Froebel (8:7). 

71 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

(B^) that the symbolism can affect the child in 
advance of any experience of the thing sym- 
bolized ? 

(iii) Does observation support the belief that 
the child's mind and interest (A) seize upon 
the symbol {A') because of its symbolic con- 
nection with the thing signified (B')? 

(iv) Does observation support the belief that 
activity with the symbol (A^) awakens the idea 
germ (A) into fuller consciousness ? 

We have discussed already the first query, 
and have seen that modern psychology rejects 
the doctrine of innate ideas. Logically, then, 
queries three and four must be answered nega- 
tively. We may well hold these two in abey- 
ance, however, until the second has been 
discussed. And here again we must beg the 
reader's patience. The way is long and thorny. 
In order to see how a symbol is connected with 
the thing symbolized, and what if any antecedent 
experience is necessary before one can feel the 
symbolism involved, we must differentiate the 
several types of symbolism. From a study of 
symbolism in education for the purpose at hand 

72 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

three fairly differentiable types of symbolism 
appear : 

1. The symbolism of signs. One thing (the 
symbol or sign) may be so associated with another 
that the presence of the symbol (sign) to con- 
sciousness calls the other thing to mind. Such 
association may be (a) between any two things 
of ordinary experience, as the sugar bowl means 
sugar to the child, or (6) by connection in liter- 
ature, as the trident recalls Neptune, or (c) 
by arbitrary convention, as the letter b indicates 
a certain sound. 

2. The symbolism of imaginative play. A 
child " makes believe " that a stick is a horse, 
and behaves with the stick in some such fashion 
as he thinks a man behaves with a horse. The 
symbol — if such a term be fitting — allows in 
this case behavior on the part of the child similar 
to that attributed by him to one who possesses 
the " real " thing. Imaginative play consists 
of such whole-souled reproductions in miniature 
of the broader surrounding life. A certain 
approach to animism often serves to heighten 
the effect. 

73 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

3. Figurative symbolism. When an analogy 
or remote connection is noted or assigned be- 
tween one thing more immediate or more 
tangible (more " concrete ") and another less 
tangible (more " abstract "), the more tangible 
may be said to symbolize the less tangible ; 
as, for example, the lily symbolizes purity. 

It is not claimed that these groups are always 
mutually exclusive, nor indeed that every case 
of symbolism can be satisfactorily assigned to 
one or another ; still for the purpose at hand 
these groups may be taken as showing the three 
typical ways in which symbolism has been con- 
ceived in discussions of the educational doctrine. 

Let us now consider what kind of experience 
precedes the perception of symbolic relation- 
ship. As to the first type, it is clear that the 
association must have been made in the mind by 
experience. The sugar must be known as sugar, 
the bowl as bowl, and perhaps "pari 'passu, 
possibly later, the two associated in experience. 
In narration, the same conditions would hold. 
In the case of conventional connection, the 
thing symbolized must be at least partially 

74 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

known and organized in experience before the 
symbol (sign) can stand for it. At no time can 
this symbol (sign) stand for any more of the ob- 
ject than is comprehended in the relationship 
of knower to thing known.^ 

In the " symbolism of imaginative play," 
the child is stimulated by the thought of the 
symbolized behavior or by the symbol as making 
this possible, and responds by his dramatic 
reproduction in the little of what he conceives 
the " real " thing to be in the large. He must 
have some antecedent knowledge experience 
of the thing represented, else there could be 
neither stimulation to act nor appropriate 
direct response. There may result increased 
clearness of conception with reference to the 
adult life represented — this must result if the 
activity be educationally justifiable — but the 
initial stimulation and correlative response arose 
from antecedent organization of knowledge 
experience in the field represented. Here as 
elsewhere, experience precedes the symbolism 

^ The use of what some have called "potential symbols" is given on 
page 79 ff . 

75 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

and gives to the symbol whatever power it 
has as stimulus. 

The case of figurative symbolism is somewhat 
more complicated. Several steps may be dif- 
ferentiated, though they need not be chronologi- 
cally distinct. Take the lily as symbolizing 
purity. There must be some knowledge ex- 
perience of the lily in a non-figurative con- 
nection, including a consciousness of the homo- 
geneity (purity) of its whiteness. On the other 
hand, there must have been sufficient moral 
experience for the concept of purity as a virtue 
to be present, at least partially. Under these 
conditions the analogy may be felt between the 
spotlessness of the lily and the moral spotless- 
ness of purity. In the pleasurable interplay of 
the mind back and forth between symbol and 
thing symbolized, each may become clearer in 
its relation, each may be enriched by elements 
from the other. Evidently in this type of sym- 
bolism there must be antecedent experience not 
simply of the more tangible (symbol), but par- 
ticularly in the moral or spiritual (" abstract ") 
realm with which the symbolism deals. 

76 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

So with each of the three types, the symboHe 
force springs always from experience — personal 
knowledge experience of the thing symbolized as 
well as the symbol itself. The symbolic connec- 
tion comes always from experience antecedent to 
the perception of the symbolism. With symbol- 
ism as everywhere else, experience precedes per- 
ception. The future is suggested only in terms 
of the past.^ 

We are now ready to return to the four in- 
quiries propounded on page 71 above. 

(i) Is there present in the child's mind an 
idea germ, which is to unfold into a fully con- 
scious concept .f^ 

1 The student of comparative psychology might ask whether there 
are not sign connections made in the brain by heredity, and whether after 
all this is not what Froebel had in mind, failing to make plain his mean- 
ing only because he speaks the language of the Schellingian philosophy 
rather than that of modern science. Undoubtedly such sign connections 
are known ; the smell of the dog may incite the kitten to spit and scratch, 
fighting as it were her hereditary foe. And probably Froebel was in- 
fluenced in his thinking by known instances of such inborn connections. 
Our question, from this point of view, would be whether there are such 
innate connections available in the case of man; and, if yes, whether 
Froebel's educational procedure was such as to utilize them. Both 
questions may be answered unhesitatingly. While there are in the case 
of the baby many inborn connections, they are not of a kind to support 
any practice of symbolism, still less would they support the involved 
figurative symbolism of Froebel. Chapters IV and V will elaborate the 
bases for the last made assertion. 

77 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

The answer is, no. A concept is an organiza- 
tion of experience for guiding future experiences. 
In Froebel's sense of a germ (which contains 
latently what is subsequently to appear), he is 
mistaken; there are no idea germs in the child's 
mind. To change the meaning of germ to fit 
modern psychology is to reject exactly the whole 
of Froebel's theory on this point. 

(ii) Is there such an inherent connection 
between the symbol and the thing signified 
that the symbolism can affect the child in ad- 
vance of experience with the thing symbolized ? 

The answer is, no. The connection in each 
case of symbolism is made by and in experi- 
ence ; and the more metaphorical the symbolism, 
the wider is the necessary antecedent experi- 
ence. 

(iii) Does observation support the belief that 
an idea germ seizes upon the correlative sym- 
bol because of the latter's connection with the 
thing symbolized or with the concept of this 
thing ? 

The answer is a twofold no. There are no 
such idea germs, and the symbol is not con- 

78 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

nected with the thing symbolized in advance of 
experience in the field symbolized. 

(iv) Does observation support the belief that 
activity with the symbol awakens to fuller 
consciousness the correlative idea germ ? 

The answer is, no. There are no such idea 
germs. Besides in most of the cases cited by 
Froebel there is for the child no perception of 
symbolism. For the child such symbolism 
simply does not exist. 

We thus have no difficulty in concluding that 
Froebel's symbolism, in so far as it postulates 
innate idea germs and in so far as it assumes a 
symbolism effective antecedently to experience, 
is baseless. We found instances of such baseless 
symbolism in the running games and in the 
connection of the ball with the conception of 
a whole. The reader already familiar with 
Froebelian symbolism will recognize these as 
in fact typical. Succeeding chapters will show 
how much of Froebel's educational practice 
is based upon such symbolism. 

" Potential symbols." — To the discussion 
just given it is proper to add a word with ref- 

79 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

erence to " potential symbols," a measurably 
defensible use of signs in advance of the ex- 
perience which is to give the significance. We 
have a common instance in the fact that a child 
often hears to advantage a word before he has 
the experience which must give to the word its 
proper content. That the unwise use of the 
practice is a hindrance to the child's mental 
growth has been for many years a commonplace 
in educational thought. It is none the less 
true that within limits a designation for a specific 
kind of experience given in advance may help 
in distinguishing and fixing the experience. A 
child learning to paint has noticed the name 
ultramarine ; when she meets the color, the name 
already more or less associated helps her to fix 
in mind this particular shade of blue. More 
exactly, the word ultramarine was experienced 
under such circumstances as to show that it 
referred to color and possibly to a blue. The 
partially identified name may then remain in 
mind as a query : Just what kind of blue is 
ultramarine .f^ A general interest in color work 
thus may be so directed that when opportunity 

80 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

offers, experience definitive of ultramarine is 
gladly attended to and the definition and con- 
nection accordingly the better made. 

The proper limitations of this use of " poten- 
tial " symbolization are implied in the discus- 
sion given. Where a child's interest and ex- 
perience are such as to cause him to seize upon a 
new term and give to it a partial meaning from 
the connection in which it was met, he will 
then normally adopt an expectant attitude with 
reference to this term and will utilize the op- 
portunity of fixing more definitely its meaning. 
In a sense, the symbol has preceded and pre- 
pared for the experience of the thing signified. 
More exactly, however, it has been a movement 
from a partial meaning based on partial ex- 
perience to a fuller meaning based on fuller 
experience. Thus explained and thus grounded 
in normal growth attending interest, the practice 
is good. When pushed upon a child against 
interest and in spite of non-apperception, no 
practice could be more deadly. 

The discussion of " potential symbolism " 
has then but rounded out the appraisal of Froe- 
Q 81 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

belian symbolism. It has pointed out in another 
set of terms the weakness and danger of allowing 
signs to precede initial experience; it has, 
finally, indicated the proper fmiction of a sign 
as partial organization of antecedent experience 
to serve as guide and controller of subsequent 
experience. With added experience the sign 
gains in definition and in consequent efficiency. 
All of which is but a statement, as far as it goes, 
of the process of normal mental growth. Cer- 
tainly no support is here found for Froebel's 
distinctive symbolism. 

Freedom in education. — Closely connected 
with the doctrine of development, under which 
symbolism has been discussed, is Froebel's 
conception of child liberty as a pre-condition 
of proper education. " Education . . . , originally 
and in its first principles, should necessarily 
be passive^ following (only guarding and protect- 
ing), not prescriptive, categorical, interfering " 
(1:7). Taking into account the full context, 
the argument runs somewhat as follows : "It 
is the destiny and life work of all things to unfold 
their essence, hence their divine being." Edu- 

82 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

cation is in fact but the process of securing such 
an enfolding of what was from the first divinely 
enfolded. Moreover, the germ contains and is 
an exact and proper plan of what the adult form 
should be. Under such conditions, that educa- 
tion is best which fosters most completely the 
full and unhampered unfolding of the original 
germ. The business of the teacher is to suppb 
the conditions demanded by the innate plan, anc 
to ward off any influence which might hinder its( 
unfolding. The curriculum consists exactly o^ 
those conditions called for by the germ. It is 
in view of these considerations that education 
should be '' passive, following . . . not interfering." 
" Indeed," says Froebel, in immediate con- 
nection, " in its very essence, education should 
have these characteristics; for the undisturbed 
operation of the Divine Unity is necessarily 
good — cannot be otherwise than good. This 
necessity implies that the young human being — 
as it were, still in process of creation — would 
seek, although still unconsciously, as a product 
of nature, yet decidedly and surely, that which 
is in itself best ; and moreover in a form wholly 

83 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

adapted to his condition, as well as to his dispo- 
sition, his powers and means" (1 : 7 f.). This 
may be taken as a sort of idealized statement of 
Froebel's chosen position. In accordance with 
it we should follow the child's wishes because he 
will choose best. Froebel hastens to say that 
" nature, it is true, rarely shows us now that 
unmarred natural state " (1:9*). 

Taking together all of Froebel's pronounce- 
ments on this topic, it is diflScult to lay down one 
consistent or satisfactory statement of his posi- 
tion. He would hold to the original statement 
given above if he could ; and his departures 
from it are made only under direst compulsion. 
It seems, however, that after the kindergarten 
procedure was devised he at times tends to 
show more regard for this his latest creation, 
the son of his old age, than for his first-born. 
" Without rational, conscious guidance, childish 
activity degenerates into aimless play instead 
of preparing for those tasks of life for which it 
is destined" (8:67). "In the kindergarten 
they [the children] are guided to bring out their 
plays in such a manner as really to reach the 

84 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

aim desired by nature, that is, to serve for their 
development. Does it disturb the plant in its 
growth when the gardener protects it, prunes it, 
waters it, takes the best care he can of it? " 
(8 : 68.) Here Froebel is evidently afraid to 
" follow " the child at all times lest his " aimless 
play " not " really . . . reach the aim desired 
by nature," hence " in the kindergarten they are 
guided." Clearer love for his youngest born, 
the kindergarten procedure, is seen in the state- 
ment that " the knowledge of the cube form is 
so important . . . that its form, its comprehen- 
sion, and its management cannot be too early 
or too urgently brought before the child " 
(5 : 210). He elsewhere states of the same cube 
that it is " at first only after oft-repeated show- 
ing and perception that the child strongly wishes 
to see its nurse produce now one, now another 
position of the cube " (4 : 83). There is a wide 
range of possible positions between the two 
extremes of " urgently " bringing an undesired 
play gift before the child, and believing that 
the child will seek " decidedly and surely that 
which is in itself best, and ... in a form wholly 

85 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

adapted to his condition." While Froebel oc- 
cupies at one time or another all the possible 
positions, there can be no doubt that in theory 
he inclines all the time towards the extreme of 
greater freedom, but in practice, increasingly 
towards the element of external guidance. 

The meaning of development in relation to 
freedom. — It is quite worth our while to exam- 
ine the basis of Froebel's belief in freedom. We 
have already seen that for him freedom is the 
necessary condition to the full realization of the 
original divinely implanted germ. If we grant 
that the child at birth is such a germ as Froebel 
conceives it to be, then the doctrine of liberty 
follows as an easy, and perhaps necessary, 
corollary. What are the facts .'^ Is the child 
the germ of the man in the preformation sense ? 
As regards the body in its principal outward 
and visible characteristics, we may answer yes, 
and accept, in a sense, the corollary of liberty. 
We can do little if anything with the body 
besides giving it freedom to grow. The food, 
sunshine, fresh air, sleep, rest, and exercise, 
demanded by it (as interpreted, however, by 

86 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

our best study of it, not by its immediate in- 
clination), furnish the best regimen for its growth. 
In the main, the final and good result was con- 
tained with a certain uniqueness in the original 
germ. Our part is to furnish the favorable 
conditions for its realization. 

But when we come to the psychological, the 
situation is quite otherwise. Here conscious, 
intentional human guidance and redirection are 
necessary in far greater degree in order to reach 
a result fitted to meet the inevitable demands 
of life. We may take two cases as typical of 
all others, to show the part necessarily played 
by society in " developing " the child. A 
baby's prattle contains many varied sounds ; 
some one of these will by chance approximate 
" mama." This sound will be noted by the 
mother, and the child will receive approval 
accordingly. The repetition of this satisfaction 
with the accompanying disregard of the *' mere 
prattle " will fix the word as one of the child's 
accomplishments. Now this word evidently 
came from the child's original stock of tendencies; 
in this sense it has been " developed." But it 

87 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

was not uniquely contained in that stock. It 
survived from among very many possibilities ; 
all of which were equally contained in the original 
stock. In a true sense, there was a struggle for 
existence among these many babbling sounds. 
The word mama survived through no intrinsic 
worth or merit in it, but solely by reason of 
outside selection. This is what " development " 
means in this case. Nature furnished a variety 
of possibilities ; society selected the one suited 
to its purpose. In this way any language, as 
English or French, is " developed " from the 
child's native stock of responses; but clearly 
we cannot say that either language or any 
language was present in that original stock. 

The second instance shows the action of social 
disapproval, the psychology, however, being 
much the same in both cases. A child has, 
among other reactions to an annoying situation, 
that of anger. The careful parent sees to it that 
this reaction is left unsatisfied, at the same time 
satisfying other more approved forms of reac- 
tion. By the law of habit formation, this re- 
jected reaction tends to be called into play 

88 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

less often, until in the " well-bred " person, 
anger has small place. Here anger was con- 
tained in the original stock — probably as a very 
strong natural predisposition — but was not 
allowed to reach its maximum possible strength, 
because in existing social conditions the child 
was counted to be better off without it. These 
two instances may be taken as typical of all 
learning, and consequently of all *' develop- 
ment " in the mental and moral realm. 

To sum up the whole discussion, the word 
*' development," as applied to the child, covers 
a wide range, the extremes of which while 
differing perhaps only in degree can still be 
easily differentiated. At the one extreme, the 
bodily, are certain elements so fixed in the orig- 
inal germ that they will, if permitted by pas- 
sively favorable conditions, unfold with a mini- 
mum of guidance into their full and proper 
realization. Such, for example, are all those 
things that distinguish man as an animal from 
other animals. So far as these are functional, 
they are concerned, largely at any rate, with our 
survival on the animal plane. According to 

89 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

biological evolution, the elements at this ex- 
treme represent our oldest inheritance. At 
the other extreme are those elements, and their 
arrangement in our psychical make up, which 
have to do with adaptation to the most recent 
part of our social inheritance. The latter ele- 
ments have been fixed in our several individual 
characters by the action of our social environ- 
ment in selecting from among our native reac- 
tions those which best fit us to utilize and con- 
trol this environment. At the one extreme, 
" development " is an outward unfolding of 
what was from the first uniquely (relatively so, 
at any rate) implicit in the germ. We may say 
of this that the directing agency in the growth, 
for ordinary environments, is within the germ. 
At the other extreme, *' development " means 
no more than that the growth has been at each 
successive stage derived from the preceding 
by an outward selection and elimination. Of 
this, it is misleading to say that the outcome was 
implicit in the original stock, unless we at the 
same time make clear that the actual outcome 
is simply one of very many possible outcomes 

90 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

which owes its priority and survival solely 
to some outside agency. Of this same extreme, 
we may in a sense say that there are successive 
stories of selected reactions in the structure 
of our mental houses. The bottom story is 
nearest to original nature, the topmost story 
shows most of the external element. Between 
the two extremes herein differentiated both 
nature and nurture enter in a degree de- 
termined by proximity to one or the other of 
extremes. " Development " is thus a word of 
shifting meaning when applied to the genesis 
of human beings, the element of external 
selection constantly increasing the farther away 
we get from mere bodily growth. 

On the basis of this discussion, it is easy to 
criticize those who insist that " education is a 
development from within." The assertion is 
ambiguous. If, however, as with Froebel, it 
is asserted that " the new-born child is not 
merely to become a man, but the man already 
appears and indeed is in the child with all his 
talents and the unity of his nature" (4:49), 
then the ambiguity is resolved, and the assertion 

91 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

is unjustified and misleading. It is not true in 
the sense in which it was meant to be taken. 
Further, we have no difficulty in appraising 
a doctrine of liberty based upon the doctrine of 
development. If reference be had to bodily 
growth in the matter of gross anatomy, liberty 
should prevail. To bind the feet or head can 
probably result only in harm. If reference be 
had, however, to the building of a character 
suitable for present conditions of civilization, 
then we cannot allow that the element of selec- 
tion lies entirely within the child. To affirm 
this is to reject the worth of the social environ- 
ment. A purely " following " education would 
lead either to mere brutism or to barbarism and 
anarchy. 

Before leaving the doctrine of development 
entirely, we may instance one respect in which 
the original nature furnishes most valuable 
guidance to those who have in hand the educa- 
tion of the child. Since original nature shows 
wide individual differences and since our 
social structure calls for differentiation of func- 
tion (division of labor), we may unhesitatingly 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

approve the utilization of natural individual 
preference in the endeavor to find suitable 
life work for the individual. Such utilization 
wisely directed undoubtedly makes for greater 
individual happiness and for greater social 
efficiency. 

A suggested doctrine of freedom. — The word 
utilization as used above furnishes the key to 
the solution of the problem of liberty — at 
least from the external point of view. For the 
doctrine of proper child liberty in matters edu- 
cational has a much firmer basis than a mistaken 
doctrine of development. While a purely " fol- 
lowing " education is impossible, it should not 
be hastily concluded that education consists 
even largely in repression. An appraisal of 
Froebel's psychology is not the place for a 
lengthy presentation of an opposed point of 
view, but a short sketch may not be out of place. 
If we recall the illustrations given above of the 
child's learning to say mama, and learning to 
leave off his anger, we see three essential elements 
in this learning process : (1) the varied charac- 
ter of the child's responses to a situation, (2) the 

93 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

selecting effect of the social environment, and 
(3) the psychology of habit formation by which 
the child grows to the use or disuse of a partic- 
ular response. Each of these elements either 
calls for or allows a certain amount of freedom 
to the child. As to the first, a varied response 
to any environment is, as a rule, the key to 
progress whether of the individual or of the 
group. Observation makes clear that, other 
things being equal, the regime of personal 
freedom, of individual responsibility, is the one 
in which there is most fertility of response. With 
reference to the second, if the social environment 
is to make wise selection, it will utilize to the 
maximum of feasibility the natural responses. 
This means, on the one hand, that the in- 
stitutional life (social demand) should be in 
reality the means to the maximum expression 
of human nature; and on the other, that the 
less redirection necessary with any natural im- 
pulse, the greater the utilization of its strength. 
The history of education shows within the past 
hundred or so years an ever greater utilization 
of the natural response; or what is the same 

94 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

thing, an ever increasing freedom of self-ex- 
pression to the child. As to the third element, it 
is fairly evident that of all possible means of 
selecting from among the child's responses, that 
which take place as a by-product of normal life 
conditions has all the while been the principal 
agency in education, even though teachers 
and parents have not generally so understood it. 
This suggests that we now send to the scrap 
heap so much of our educational machinery as 
prevents us from using to the fullest possible 
this natural selective agency of normal life. 
To put this more plainly, we have too many 
rigid desks, too many mechanical promotion 
schemes, too much conventional knowledge in 
the curriculum. We have relied overmuch on 
" do this " and " don't do that." We need to 
give our children more opportunity to live free, 
healthy, happy, normal lives. The Froebelian 
kindergarten has had a worthy part in preparing 
the public mind for this conception. With a 
sounder and more consistent doctrine of freedom, 
the kindergartner can join to her efforts those 
of the elementary teachers, so that with a united 

95 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

front substantial progress can be made all 
along the line. 

Froebel's doctrine of self -activity. — In closest 
connection with the preceding are self -activity 
and play. So close indeed is the connection 
that a few words will here suflSce. Self -activity 
implies inner impulse towards outer action as 
the means of self -development. " Above all 
outside stimulation is the child's strong impulse 
towards the unfolding of his inner being . . . 
which manifests itself in his whole life activity " 
(3 : 121*). Here the inner impulse seems initial ; 
in other cases, the impulse waits for some 
awakening stimulus : " The mother's influence 
thus resembles that of the spring sun, which by 
warmth awakens the life (the impulse, the power, 
the self-activity and the self-determination) in 
each seed kernel" (5:16). Elsewhere we are 
told that the activity of the child is "usually, 
indeed, excited from without, but yet actually 
and formally determined by the innermost 
workings of the soul" (5:57). These state- 
ments may at first glance appear somewhat 
contradictory, but the situation as described — 

96 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

with no claim for a purposive element in native 
responses — is just what is accepted in current 
biological psychology. No organism will act 
unless stimulated, but there can be no stimula- 
tion in the absence of a prior arrangement within 
the organism to receive just that kind of stimu- 
lus. Further the organism's particular " set " 
or " attitude " (either temporary or permanent) 
is an element in the working of the stimulus. 
If the '* set " be peculiarly favorable, a very 
slight amount of stimulation suffices. In one 
sense the activity starts from within, in another 
it starts from without. 

More interesting to us in this doctrine of 
self-activity is Froebel's anticipation of a later 
doctrine of self-expression. Froebel identifies 
self -active endeavor with the absence of external 
compulsion (1 : 222). In criticizing a certain 
contemporaneous school practice, Froebel says, 
"Children till now were too little employed, or 
not judiciously — that is to say, not self -ac- 
tively or freely enough " {nicht selhst- und frei- 
thdtig genug) (4 : 161). This is clearly the same 
as saying that self-activity is the opposite of 
H 97 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

compulsion, and that we have self-activity 
when the child identifies the proposed line of 
conduct with his self and its demands. This 
aspect of the doctrine is exactly Professor 
Dewey's doctrine of interest and self-expression. 

Play is said to be a form of " self -activity " 
(freithdtig) (1 : 55), which, so far as it goes, is 
an excellent statement. Perhaps more sig- 
nificant are the words that play " at first is 
simply natural life " (1 : 54). This allows us 
to say that play is exactly the free activity 
advocated above in the discussion of child liberty 
in the schoolroom. And certainly few accounts 
of actual playing could be more attractive than 
that given by Froebel in the Education of Man 
(p. 105 ff.). If only he had not departed from 
the beauty of this early practice when he had 
devised the kindergarten ! Let us for the mo- 
ment leave Froebel, and examine more closely 
the concept of play in general. 

The meaning of the term play. — Any student 
of the subject is struck by the varying meanings 
attached currently to the word play. Hardly 
elsewhere is there so great a tendency to slide 

98 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

from one meaning to another. Play is at times 
defined in terms of the mental attitude towards 
the activity, being contrasted with work, labor, 
and drudgery. When the satisfaction inherent 
in a specific activity sufiices to keep that activity 
going, the experience is commonly called play. 
If, however, some external compulsion or con- 
sideration is necessary to the continuance of 
the activity, some one of the other terms is 
considered more appropriate. At other times, 
play is distinguished from work in that the 
latter brings a useful result which is desired 
possibly for its exchange value, while play leads 
to no such result. In typical cases either 
way of defining might suflSce, but many trouble- 
some border-line instances present themselves, 
particularly in dealing with the growth of 
children ; for children progress from a stage 
where play is admittedly proper to a stage where 
work is supposed to rule. In order to deal with 
these transitional cases it becomes necessary to 
take a closer account of play. 

A kitten " plays " with a spool. The satis- 
faction of the activity itself leads to the con- 

99 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

tinuance of the activity. So a young child 
will " play." The operation of playing with 
the spool is very simple. Its characteristic is 
repetition, the unit element being a very short 
simple act. Preyer's child, for example, took off 
a box top and put it back on 79 times in suc- 
cession. The kitten has no other kind of play ; 
the child will grow to use more complex activi- 
ties. Instead of the indefinite repetition of a 
very simple act, each repetend in the case of 
the child will become with increasing age more 
and more complex until finally mere repetition 
will disappear, swallowed up in a single elaborate 
process. The conscious use of tools, as scissors, 
paste, etc., enters ; planning and devising are 
involved. The " end " of the process may be 
days, even weeks ahead. With the adult, the 
interval may be one of years, even decades. 
The simple act, many times repeated for its 
own sake, is clearly play. So also is the more 
elaborate act, if only the activity spring from 
the child's (or the man's) own interest, if he is 
completely identified in interest with the process 
as a whole and with each part of the process. 

100 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

Such a complex act need not be simply play, 
it may also be work. It will be work, if there be 
in it a serious utilization of one's available 
inner resources. If the activity be engaged 
in simply for the exchange value of the product 
and not at all for the satisfaction therein in- 
volved, then the activity is work alone, and not 
play. Labor, rather than work, then becomes 
the suitable term. If labor be arduous and 
fatiguing, it is called toil. If it be very disagree- 
able, performed only under constraint of some 
quite extraneous need, it has become drudgery.^ 
When we turn from the general discussion to 
Froebel an adequate consideration is not easy. 
That Froebel valued play is undoubted. It 
occupied a large place in his pre-kindergarten 
thinking, as we have already stated. " The 
games directly influence and educate the boy 
for life, awaken and cultivate many civil and 
moral virtues" (1:114). There are not lack- 
ing intimations that Froebel saw the trans- 
forming effect of the play attitude upon work. 

' The definitions here given of labor, toil, and drudgery are taken 
from Dewey's Interest and Effort in Education, p. 78. 

101 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

" If activity brought joy to the child, work now 
gives dehght to the boy " (1 : 102). "The time 
has now come to exalt all work into free ac- 
tivity. ... At the present time art alone can 
truly be called free activity" (8:238). The 
proper education " restores to work its high 
significance" (5:40). In the kindergarten, we 
find an institution, for the first time, based on 
play. The world undoubtedly owes much of 
its present sense of the educative value of play 
to the kindergarten as an actual living institu- 
tion. Jean Paul Richter preceded Froebel in this 
field, and even surpassed him in the statement 
of his theory,^ but Froebel's institution has 
been the efficient cause in spreading the idea. 
It must be confessed, however, that Froebel's 
kindergarten play is too often — even too gener- 
ally — the means of presenting in symbolic 
form to early childhood certain quasi-meta- 
physical ideas. " I am convinced," says Froebel, 
'* that the exalted and often ecstatic delight of 
children in their simple movement plays is 

^ Richter, Levana (Bohn Library), pp. 177 ff. Froebel read and ad- 
mired Richter (see 9 : 38). 

102 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

by no means to be explained through the exer- 
tion of mere physical force — mere bodily ac- 
tivity. The true source of their joy is the dim 
premonition which stirs their sensitive hearts 
that in their play there is hidden a deep signifi- 
cance ; that it is, in fact, the husk within which 
is concealed the kernel of living spiritual truth " 
(4:260f.). In immediate connection he asks, 
" May not their delight in these encircling move- 
ments, for example, spring from the longing and 
effort to get an all-round or all-sided grasp of an 
object ? " (4 : 260.) How the gifts utilize sym- 
bolism in their derivation, and expect symbolism 
in their use will be discussed in the next chapter. 
There we shall have cause to regret that Froebel 
so largely used kindergarten play as a quasi 
sugar-coating process ; but in spite of these 
faults no one can deny the great influence of 
Froebel in bringing about the ever increasing 
appreciation of all kinds of play. 

Minor psychological doctrines. — To take up 
in detail the many respects in which Froebel' s 
naive psychology enters into his education 
would but weary the reader to no great purpose. 

103 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

He adopted, for example, the Pestalozzian 
fallacy that a logical simple is ipso facto a psycho- 
logical simple. If the cube appears to the child 
" as too large a whole, and composed of too 
many kinds of parts, the child's view of it 
must be clarified by single perceptions " (4 : 84 f .). 
The mother will first clasp the cube so as to show 
one face only ; then later two faces, etc., and 
finally all ; so that the child will come in time 
" to a complete comprehension of the cube." 
Froebel further holds, contrary to present opin- 
ion, that " the child appropriates the words 
more easily by frequent hearing than by fre- 
quent repetition, for hearing impresses the 
mind more than repetition " (5 : 102 f.). Again, 
Froebel accepts, naturally without question, 
the doctrine of general training. '* I have dis- 
covered . . . that the powers of memory and 
imagination are considerably increased " by 
the kindergarten training, — and " that the 
power of perception and comprehension is 
sharpened " (5 : 137 f.). 

An interesting idea is Froebel' s notion of 
" normal forms." The cube is " the normal 

104 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

form of a great part of all that is solid and 
occupies space" (4:86). "It is highly im- 
portant for the human being that early in life, 
and even as a child, something normal be given 
to him ... in order that he may recognize a 
generality and a unity for all that is particular 
and individual " (4 : 96). Thus when the child 
has become familiar with the cube, his attention 
is called to other rectangular bodies, as the book 
and the box, and their lines, surfaces, points, 
etc., " so all that the cube united in itself 
can be perceived separately in different objects 
surrounding the child" (4 : 98). Of many com- 
ments that might be made, two will suffice. 
First, there seems no sufficient reason to demand 
that the child be on the lookout for lines, sur- 
faces, rectangular solids, etc. Some kindergart- 
ners have carried this to an unwarranted ex- 
treme. Second, the " generality and unity " here 
referred to had better come under more usual 
conditions, as generalizations from actual life 
situations. The child has no trouble in getting 
the concept " round " from actual situations 
of roundness. No " normal form " need give 

105 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

even the most conscientious kindergartner a 
serious thought. 

A much more valuable practice on Froebel's 
part is the naming of anything with which he 
wished the child to become familiar. " All 
perceptions should be connected with words, 
that thereby they may be more clearly defined 
in thought" (4:207). This is sound psychol- 
ogy. The only criticism is that Froebel expects 
too much of it. He is even willing to use it 
when the child is so young that the words are 
"as yet incomprehensible." Even then, says 
Froebel, the " impression on the child " is not 
without " abiding results " (4 : 82) . Here, as fre- 
quently, was Froebel using an otherwise good 
practice to get before the child ideas far in 
advance of his childish need. No mother need 
trouble that her baby get concepts of space, 
time, the " self-contained," or " the in-itself- 
reposing." ^ Her singing should be put to 
better use. 

1 Froebel would have the mother show her baby during "the second 
half of the first year" that a sphere in all its positions remains the same : 
"I turn and wind and as I go. 
The sphere in form I always show " (4 : 74). 

106 



FROEBEL'S EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

Summary of the chapter. — We thus finish 
our examination of Froebel's educational psy- 
chology. His doctrine of cultural recapitulation 
has a modern ring, but is now considered to have 
little or no value to us. The doctrine of slum- 
bering germs of innate ideas we decline to con- 
sider seriously, although we thereby reject a 
chief foundation stone of Froebel's educational 
theory. The extended consideration of sym- 
bolism disclosed (1) the assumed existence of 
idea germs in the sense rejected above; and 
(2) a belief that the symbol has eflSciency as 
such in advance of any experience of the thing 
symbolized. This was upon examination dis- 
allowed, and the whole of Froebel's peculiar 
doctrine of symbolism fell to the ground. Of 
considerable value was Froebel's doctrine of 
educational liberty, although its assumed basis 
in the doctrine of development was rejected. 
This led to a restatement of the meaning of de- 
velopment and a consequent restatement of 
educational liberty. Froebel's doctrines of self- 
activity and play were found to be valuable an- 
ticipations of the best current thought. Froebel 

107 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

was credited with being the principal single in- 
fluence in bringing the modern appreciation of 
the educational value of play. Several minor 
items closed the chapter, chief of which was 
Froebel's doctrine of " normal forms." This 
seemed to contravene current conceptions of 
the nature and function of general ideas. On 
the whole, Froebel's psychology is strong in 
proportion as it comes from his sympathetic 
regard for the child, and weak in proportion as 
it originates in his general philosophical system. 
His feelings are truer than his theory. 



108 



CHAPTER IV 

THE KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

The core of the kindergarten curriculum as 
devised by Froebel is the gift series. In Froe- 
bel's own words, " A course of training and oc- 
cupations for children, answering to the laws of 
development and the laws of life, demanded a 
thoroughly expressive medium in the shape of 
materials for these occupations and games for 
the child ; therefore to meet this want, I ar- 
ranged a series of play materials under the title 
of 'A complete series of gifts for play ' " (6 : 250). 

Our first inquiry will be as to how this *' series 
of gifts " is derived from these " laws of de- 
velopment " and the " laws of life." That 
there is one definite order of individual develop- 
ment was to Froebel clear : " There is a certain 
course and sequence in the development of all 
things, which the Creator has followed in 
building up the race, and which the human being 

109 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

must be allowed to follow " (9 : 172). Whether 
the derivation of the gift series is based upon 
logical, or psychological, or social considera- 
tions need not be considered. To Froebel 
there is one " certain course and sequence in 
the development of all things." The series 
might be derived from any one or all three 
of these considerations, the result would be 
the same. " In the choice of these . . . first 
playthings ... we have on the one side quite 
strictly followed the requirement of the thought, 
of the idea, and, on the other hand, the free life 
of the child and the requirements of that life, 
and so have come to one and the same result " 
(5:204f.). 

In another place Froebel says that the kinder- 
garten principles are not " arbitrarily decreed, 
but such as must arise by logical necessity 
(Notwendigkeit) from the child's mental and 
bodily nature, regarding him as a member of 
the great human family" (6: 251). Here all 
three considerations are present, but the words 
" must arise by logical necessity" are suggestive. 

The ball as the first of the gift series. — At 
110 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

the head of the gift series stands the ball or 
sphere. *' The ball is just as absolutely given 
as the first plaything for the . . . developing child 
... as the spherical form of the world is to the 
satisfactory insight into the system of the world " 
(5 : 187 f.). The reasons assigned by Froebel for 
this priority of the ball are so many and so varied 
that for convenience, we group them under 
seven heads: (1) The ball has symbolic value, 
(2) it has value as the " counterpart " of the 
child, (3) it has geometrical value as " the 
germ of all other forms," (4) it trains the 
mind, (5) it trains the body, (6) it socializes 
the child, (7) the child likes it. 

Among these the symbolic value is the es- 
sential one, the others largely follow either as in- 
stances of or as corollaries from the symbolic. 
The ball symbolizes chiefly the three related con- 
cepts of unity, an inclusive whole, and the All. 
"What symbol does my ball offer to the child.'' 
That of unity" (8: 211). "The child . . . per- 
ceives in the ball the general expression of each 
object ... as a self-dependent whole and unity " 
(4 : 32). " Even the word ball, in our significant 

111 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

language, is full of expression and meaning, 
pointing out that the ball is, as it were, an image 
of the All {der B-all ist ein Bild des All) " 
(4 : 32) . The general theory of Froebelian sym- 
bolism, already presented, will explain why 
Froebel chose a symbol of the all-inclusive Whole 
and Unity as the first element of his series. 
The argument in Froebel's mind runs substan- 
tially as follows. Education is essentially the 
unfolding of the child germ. To this end the 
child must play with the symbol or symbols 
of the mental content implicit in the germ. 
The end of education is the full knowledge of 
the all-inclusive Unity, God. This knowledge 
must in implicit form be present at birth in 
the mind germ. The child must accordingly 
begin his education with a symbol of this 
all-inclusive Unity, and must continue his de- 
velopment by using other symbols which them- 
selves develop from the first symbol. The ball 
furnishes the initial symbol of the all-inclusive 
Unity, and is at the same time the germ from 
which the other gifts are derived. Further, as 
the child's mind moves in its normal growth from 

112 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

an undifferentiated (unconscious) unity to a 
differentiated unity, so must the parallel series 
of symbols move from undifferentiated unity 
through differentiation and integration to a 
differentiated unity. The entire gift-occupa- 
tion series accordingly consists of (1) the homo- 
geneous sphere as the symbol of an undifferen- 
tiated unity, (2) the cube, brick, surface, and 
point (to name the typical steps only), which 
are implicit in the sphere and are derived there- 
from by analysis, (3) the *' occupations " (typi- 
cal only), as pricking (making points), sewing 
(connecting points into lines), weaving (forming 
surfaces out of lines), peas work (constructing 
hollow solids by sticks stuck into peas or cork), 
which thus represent the integration of the 
general elements reached previously by analysis, 
and (4) finally an (approximate) sphere con- 
structed, e.g. by peas work.^ The gift-occu- 

' The arguments here ascribed to Froebel are so scattered throughout 
his published works that the reader's patience would not suflSce for the 
necessary examination were they adequately assembled. The interpre- 
tation may be accepted, however, without hesitation as true to Froebel ; 
since the most widely divergent interpreters of Froebel, while differing 
toto ccelo as to the worth of the symbolic series, agree substantially that 
this is Froebel's idea. It should be added that professed followers of 

I 113 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

pation series is thus essentially symbolic, as a 
whole and in its parts ; and inherent in its sym- 
bolism is the specific symbolism of the ball. 
Whatever pedagogic value may be allowed to 
the series, clearly the ball is, for Froebel's pur- 
pose, " absolutely given as the first plaything 
of the . . . developing child." The examination 
into the validity of the symbolism is postponed 
for the time until we have considered the other 
reasons assigned by Froebel for choosing the 
ball as the first play gift. 

The ball is valued as the *' counterpart " of 
the child in accordance with the so-called laW 
of opposites, which demands that the child 
*' cultivate and fashion himself " by means of 
an object " which is his opposite and yet re- 
sembles him" (4:32). After our discussion 
and rejection of this " law " of opposites, we 
have no hesitation in dismissing this plea for 
the ball as without merit. As for the ball's 
being the germ of other forms, our contem- 
porary geometers will be surprised to hear any 

Froebel differ widely as to their actual use of the occupation series with 
the children. Many, for example, hardly use peas work at all, although 
Froebel himself has a good deal to say about it. 

114 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

such opinion. It will be news to them that 
the sphere is " the primitive form, the unity 
from which all earthly and natural forms and 
structures are derived " (1 : 168), or that it is 
" the germ ... of all other forms, which can 
therefore logically be developed from it in con- 
formity with fixed simple laws " (4 : 33). While 
the sphere is in fact as much contained in the 
cube as the cube is in the sphere, and while 
geometry knows nothing of the sphere as " the 
primitive form," we readily see why Froebel 
should hold to such a position. His symbolism 
demanded that the sphere begin and end his 
series ; the cube and other forms were needed 
from other and less symbolic considerations. 
Under these circumstances, Froebel puts the 
latter into the sphere in order that he might 
later draw them out, and thus symbolize his 
favorite doctrine of development. 

The statement that the ball " trains " the 
mind needs more consideration. We have al- 
ready discussed the idea of " normal forms." 
In this the ball is *' the particular image of all 
individual (spherical) things" (4:33). The 

115 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

psychology of " normal forms " did not appeal 
to us as sound. No child of ordinary intelli- 
gence needs special training with the ball in 
order to perceive the roundness of an apple. 
His incidental experience with apples will suf- 
fice. Nor can we grant any special virtue to 
the ball as a means of " nourishing " either the 
child's attention or his " free independent ac- 
tion " (4:35). A rubber doll or any other 
attractive plaything would serve just as well. 
More interesting, if not more valid, is the claim 
that the ball gives certain important " percep- 
tions of object, space, and time," " of being, 
having, and becoming" (4:37), "of present, 
past, and future " (4 :38). The worth of these 
notions to the thought world need not be dis- 
puted. If the ball had unique value in bringing 
them, we should probably grant it a unique 
place in the curriculum. But in point of fact, 
so far as the ball can serve to give these notions, 
they will come as by-products of ordinary child- 
ish play, that is, incidentally without special 
consideration from any one and without special 
apparatus. Among these concepts those of 

116 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

space and time are especially interesting. It 
is a capital fallacy, apparently characteristic 
of the school to which Froebel belonged, to sup- 
pose that because the objects of the material 
world are known to the critical mind in space 
and time, therefore the concepts of space and 
time must precede a knowledge of things in 
order that the child's mind may have suitable 
pigeon-holes in which to place material objects 
as they become known. So worthless is static 
logic as a guide to genetic psychology ! This 
same criticism we shall later apply to other 
aspects of the gift series. 

That the ball affords opportunity for bodily 
exercise and for social activity cannot be doubted. 
But no peculiar value attaches to the ball in 
these regards. That the child likes to play 
with the ball is also true, but there is no suffi- 
cient reason to suppose the ball occupies any 
unique place in the young child's esteem. 

We have now examined cursorily the principal 
reasons assigned by Froebel for making the ball 
the first of a gift series. The claims that the 
ball is the " counterpart " of the child or that it 

117 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

is the germ of the other geometrical forms, we 
dismiss as too baseless for serious consideration. 
That the ball affords certain training for mind and 
body, and that it is an attractive plaything for 
the child, we admit, but not in any peculiar 
sense or degree. In none of these claims, 
apart from the symbolic, yet to be examined, 
is there found sufficient reason — even in slight 
degree — for giving the ball a unique place in 
child development. Nor do these even tend to 
support a plea that might be urged from other 
considerations. If reason there be in Froebel's 
writings for placing the ball uniquely first in a 
gift series, that reason must be found solely in 
symbolic considerations, and nowhere else. 

The symbolism of the ball. — The question 
then is on the validity of the symbolism of the 
ball. This has meantime become the key to 
the larger question of the validity of the gift 
series as Froebel devised it. Our original dis- 
cussion of symbolism would suffice here. We 
should be entirely warranted in dismissing the 
series without further ado, by reason of its basis 
in Froebelian symbolism ; but it may not be 

118 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

out of place to make the specific application to 
the question at issue. In the symbolism of the 
ball four propositions are implied : (1) the child's 
mind is a germ, as yet unconscious, but " des- 
tined " to unfold into full consciousness ; (2) the 
unfolding of the germ is mediated by material 
symbols of its implicit content ; (3) the implicit 
content of the child mind includes the destined 
conscious knowledge of an all-inclusive unity ; (4) 
the ball and its included forms constitute suitable 
symbols of this implicit content. Let us take 
these propositions in the reverse order. Is the 
ball a symbol of all-inclusive unity ? If one so 
sees it, yes. If one does not so see it, no. The 
ball as such has no inherent symbolism. Few, if 
any, accept this symbolism except as part of a 
dogmatic system. The writer has found no 
others. Those who accept it do not explain 
how a homogeneous sphere can symbolize any 
especially laudable kind of unity. Numerical 
unity a ball shares with anything else that can 
be counted ; but there is no unique claim here. 
As for organic unity, or social unity, or an 
" all-inclusive unity," what has a homogeneous 

119 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

sphere to do with these ? So far as the writer 
can see, the fourth proposition fails : the ball 
is not the symbol of the desired inclusive unity, 
not even of an undifferentiated unity. 

What about the third proposition? Is the 
normal human being destined by innate en- 
dowment to a conscious knowledge of an all- 
inclusive unity? Whether there even be such 
a unity is a question of current philosophic 
discussion, with wide difference of opinion ; 
but, philosophic dispute aside, as a matter of 
practical affairs, we need not hesitate to say 
that the fewest number of even the best educated 
people ever give a thought to such a notion of 
unity. Outside of kindergarten arguments, the 
term (in this sense) is never mentioned in 
practical education. To base a curriculum on a 
concept which belongs to a sect of metaphysi- 
cians, which practical people care little or noth- 
ing about, would seem far from necessary. 
The third proposition is at best doubtful. 

The first and second propositions need not oc- 
cupy our attention. This ground was fully cov- 
ered in our special discussion of symbolism. The 

120 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

child's mind is no such germ as Froebel's symbo- 
lism calls for ; the law of mental growth is alto- 
gether different. Further, no symbolism as such 
can appeal to or influence a child before experi- 
ence with the thing symbolized ; and where is 
the partisan bold enough to claim that the ball 
can appeal to the child — consciously or uncon- 
sciously — as a symbol of unity ! What then 
is the conclusion? A strong negative. The 
concept of an inclusive unity is one that most of 
us care little or nothing about. If we did, the ball 
does not symbolize it. If the ball did symbolize 
it for the adult, it would not for the child. And 
the child's mind is no such germ as symbolism 
demands. The symbolic value of the ball may 
thus be dismissed as utterly without foundation. 
The derivation of the series. — Before taking 
up the gifts seriatim we may note one or two 
significant statements. '* This whole of plays 
and employments, being founded on fact, ac- 
tually develops in the purest logical sequence, 
and necessarily from the sphere and ball " 
(5:123). "Each successive gift in the series 
. . . must be indicated in and demanded by the 

121 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

gifts already considered. We need therefore 
only to discover their process of development in 
order to discover what must be the character 
of their next successor" (4:203). These quo- 
tations lead us to expect a derivation of the gift 
series, based not immediately on child psy- 
chology, but on an assumed parallel, namely, 
the a priori demand of certain (quasi) logical 
laws. What then are the laws governing the 
unfolding of the gift series considered in and of 
itself ? The answer to this inquiry will be found 
in the discussion of the successive gifts as 
presented by Froebel.^ 

" What is now to be the indispensably neces- 
sary advance to the next plaything," the cube? 

*' These are the opposite properties which the 
next solid used for play must show " : 

" The sphere has one surf ace, . . . a curved one. 
The contrast must have straight surfaces and 
several of them. The sphere has no corners 
and no edges ; the contrast must have corners 
and edges." 

^ It will be evident to those familiar with Froebel's gifts that I am not 
following all the intricacies of the series, but rather the most important 
steps. 

122 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

" Now for similarity : the sphere has three 
siniilar directions or axes, reciprocally inter- 
secting each other at right angles. . . . The next 
solid used for play must necessarily have these 
like properties together with the above-named 
oppositions. But this can only be the cube . . . , 
therefore the cube is with indispensable necessity 
the third ^ developing, educating playmate of 
the child" (5:194f.). 

Two motives appear in this derivation of 
the cube from the sphere, first, to illustrate or 
utilize the " law " of opposites ; second, to lead 
to certain mathematical concepts. Lest any 
think that the " law " of opposites is here used 
simply that the adult may understand the deri- 
vation of the gift, and not at all for the child, 
I hasten to quote Froebel's words in connection. 
" It is important that this law be now brought to 
childish simple notice and perception in a child- 
like way even at an early stage of the child's 
development. The necessity of this require- 
ment and of quiet obedience to this requirement 

1 The first of these consists of six colored wool balls ; and the second 
is the solid wooden sphere. Froebel's numbering, however, is not always 
consistent. 

123 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

very soon reveals itself. . . . The child's first 
pure incitement to comprehend and carry out 
all that is great and good in life is his pleasure 
in so doing " (5 : 196). In other words the con- 
trasts between sphere and cube not only serve 
their direct purpose of bringing to the child's 
consciousness the contrasted geometrical proper- 
ties, but at the same time they act, as do all 
(Froebelian) symbols, in awaking into activity 
certain implicit but dormant soul powers, here 
the law of opposites itself, which is, in Froebel's 
conception, the conscious basis of *' all that is 
good and great in life." When the reader learns 
that such things " will give pleasure even to 
the child who is scarcely half a year, or at least 
not a whole year old" (4:78), he is better 
prepared to believe that Froebel had in mind the 
indirect (shall we call it occult ?) effect of sym- 
bolism rather than the direct psychological in- 
fluence which the scientific observer can witness. 
The second motive, that of giving or awaking 
certain mathematical concepts, as " form, size, 
and number," we can best discuss in connection 
with the effect of the gift in leading the child 

124 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

" in a childlike manner into the fundamental 

ideas of physics and mechanics" (5:199). 

Which of these *' fundamental ideas " Froebel 

had in mind can be gathered from the following 

rhymes (4 : 78 ff.)> which are meant to be sung 

to the child when he is " not a whole year old " 

(4 : 78) : 

" Cube presses down your hand, my dear ; 
Press it, or it will fall, I fear." 

(Pressure of opposed gravity.) 

" Cube to the ground will quickly fall 
If by the hand not held at all. " (Falling through gravity.) 

"The sphere takes up the space, you see. 
So where it is cube cannot be. " (Concept of space.) 

Of all these, we repeat the remark made above : 
If these conceptions are given early to the 
child, because of their supposed logical priority 
in an explanation of the material universe, we 
must seriously object. The order of learning is 
not the order of logical arrangement. General 
conceptions never precede. The notions selected 
by Froebel for the young child are so universally 
of this general and anticipatory character that 
we feel compelled to judge him guilty of this 
fallacy in its worst form. Let the reader note 

125 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

the following typical instance of what Froebel 
expects from play with the sphere and cube: 
"It is important for him that he himself in 
play, even as a child, by play should per- 
ceive within and without how from unity 
proceed manifoldness, plurality, and totality, 
and how plurality and manifoldness finally 
are found again in and resolve themselves into 
UNITY, and should find this out in his life " 
(4 : 98) . The italics and capitals here are Froe- 
bel's. Could anything violate child psychology 
more thoroughly? 

Our next object of study is the divided cube. 
Froebel names three principles of development 
which must characterize the derivation of the 
gift series. First, " each new gift fulfills and 
interprets its predecessor by making explicit 
what it implied." Second, " each object shall 
appear to the child as a self -included whole, and 
at the same time ... as a part of a greater whole." 
Third, " all knowledge and comprehension of 
life are connected with making the internal 
external, and the external internal" (4:174). 
The third characteristic is especially illustrated 

126 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

in the divided cube. '* The child between the 
ages of one and three years," after he has handled 
an object, " now tries to pull it apart." If he suc- 
ceeds, " he then tries to put the parts together 
to form the whole which he at first had. . . . 
Thus after comprehending the outside of the 
object, the child likes also to investigate its 
inside: after a perception of the whole, to see it 
separated into its parts'" (4:117f.). We are 
thus led to a division of the original solid cube 
into eight equal cubes. With this the child 
" can make the inner outer and outer inner,'* 
an " important perceptible fact " (4 : 119). 
Froebel thus states the function of the divided 
cube : *' By the use of this gift are recognized, 
comprehended, and represented, gradually and 
increasingly, the general in the particular (for 
example, in the center of each particular surface, 
the center of every square surface); the most 
general in the most particular (for example, in a 
particular corner point of the cube, the point in 
and of itself) ; unity in the individual (for 
example, in that particular cube, the properties 
and nature of bodies which occupy space) ; 

127 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

the simple and unital in the various and mani- 
fold "... (4 : 120 f.). That eight small cubes 
furnish good play for the child is undoubted ; 
but how could anybody, even Froebel, expect a 
child under three, or of any age for that matter, 
to " comprehend " in any degree or fashion 
the " general in the particular " or " unity in 
the individual".'^ And could anything be worse 
than the geometrical instances here given ? Is 
it too much to say that Froebel totally mis- 
conceives the genesis and function of general 
ideas ? 

There is no need to discuss the remaining 
gifts in detail. The next (fourth) consists of 
the original cube divided into eight equal brick- 
shaped blocks. The fifth gift consists of the orig- 
inal cube divided into twenty -seven small cubes, 
three of which are divided diagonally into halves, 
and three diagonally into quarters, the rest 
undivided. Consideration for the reader forbids 
my quoting at length the delightful mathemati- 
cal derivation of this fifth gift. As a sample of 
its tone I present about one tenth of the whole : 

"Vertical and horizontal lines are both straight 
128 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

lines. They are also in their directions contrast- 
ing lines. Contrasts in accordance with the 
universal law of development imply mediation. 
The diagonal mediates the contrasting right 
lines and hence is demanded by them " (4 : 203). 

This completes our consideration of the deri- 
vation of the gift series. The reader has seen 
enough to convince him that Froebel in devising 
this series was influenced principally by sym- 
bolic considerations, secondarily by a desire to 
develop in the child certain mathematical, 
physical, and logical concepts of a most general 
character. These, it was expected, would give 
the child a comprehension of the world of 
nature. We need not repeat our discussions of 
the value of these. That the symbolic as 
here found is wholly worthless, and that the 
general conceptions are for the tender years 
almost equally so, will be readily granted. Be- 
fore making a final valuation, however, we will 
consider the manner in which the gifts should be 
used ; for this must enter into our judgment. 

Directions for using the blocks. — When the 
child begins his play with one of these divided 
K 129 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

cubes, the gift is handed to him in an individual 
box. He is to turn the box on its top, " draw 
out the cover and raise the box with a steady 
hand," thus leaving the whole cube with its 
parts well arranged standing before him. This 
will bring the child " much inner profit." First, 
" it is well for him to receive his playthings 
in an orderly manner." Second, " it is good 
for the child to begin his play with the percep- 
tion of a whole, a simple self-contained unit, 
and from this unity to develop his representa- 
tions " (4:205). The first of these sugges- 
tions makes for neatness and order, though one 
would not care to insist upon any far-reach- 
ing transfer. The second is again symbolic. 
Froebel has an obsession for " a self-contained 
unit." We dismiss this instance along with the 
rest of his symbolism. 

In each construction with the materials of 
any one gift there is for Froebel " one per- 
manent and indispensable condition " (4 : 219), 
namely, that " the whole of the materials must 
be used up ; or at least each separate piece 
must be arranged so as to stand in some actual 

130 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

relation to the whole. While this awakens the 
thinking spirit, it also strengthens and elevates 
the imagination ; because, amidst so much 
variety, the underlying unity is made visibly 
apparent, and the invisible law is felt " (6 : 72). 
Again the symbolic interest in unity. This 
time in rather a vicious form, because it tends to 
distract attention from the inherent unity of 
the child's plan in favor of an artificial and ex- 
ternal unity of the material. In the same way, 
the thinking by which a child fits in a left-over 
block relates to an artificial problem set for 
him from the outside. Both aspects of Froebel's 
aim in this rule are in direct opposition to his 
really vital principle of self -activity. Each new 
instance makes clearer the fact that Froebel's 
symbolism is essentially destructive of natural 
healthy childhood. 

The doctrine of sequence. — In the use of 
the gifts there is yet another rule, that of " se- 
quence," which regulates the succession of forms 
constructed from the blocks. Of such forms 
Froebel holds that, "it is above all important 
that they be developed one from another. Each 

131 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

form in the series should be a modification or 
transformation of its predecessor. No form 
should be entirely destroyed. It is also essential 
that the series should be developed so that 
each step should show either an evolution into 
greater manifoldness or variety, or a return 
to a greater simplicity " (4 : 224 f.). It is im- 
portant to Froebel that the child see " how one 
object springs from another, and can be turned 
into another; for example, a table into a table 
and two benches ; these into four benches, 
etc." (4:180). In Froebel's opinion "the an- 
ticipation of a certain necessary inner coherence 
in the thing, whether it be in its form or in its 
purpose — this manifold perception of a certain 
inner life throughout — not only awakens, but 
fosters and forms the life of the child. Isolation 
and exclusion destroy life; union and parti- 
cipation create life " (4 : 180). Once again does 
Froebel's practice defeat his purpose. Where is 
the " necessary inner coherence " when a table 
and two benches " spring from " a table ? The 
purpose of " sequence " is, of course, to sym- 
bolize development ; but unfortunately for Froe- 

132 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

bel, it illustrates a false development ; benches 
do not evolve from tables. Fortunately for 
the child, on his part, the symbolism is all 
wasted. This " sequence " has no worse effect 
on him than any other sort of clog. The 
child's natural play is merely hampered ; that 
is all. 

If it be urged with Bormann that the child in 
this sequence is learning " care and patience, 
and a respect for the existing state of things . . . 
rather to build up the new from the old in an 
orderly way, than to hope for new things out of 
the ruins of the old " (9 : 210), we note that this 
was said during the sharp reaction in Prussia 
following the attempted revolution of 1848. 
Even Bormann's favorable report could not 
prevent the prohibition of the kindergarten 
throughout Prussia. The words of this report 
are meant to quiet a startled conservatism, to 
set at ease intrenched privilege fearful of change, 
which indeed wishes " patience and a respect 
for the existing state of things." Froebel him- 
self, the Froebel of 1826, was more democratic. 
But " the respect for the existing state of things " 

133 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

as seen in the child's building is symbolic only. 
Its only effect is to prescribe external limita- 
tions. We do wish the child to learn *' pa- 
tience," but not the patience of submission. We 
do wish him to utilize the old, i.e. the available, 
but for reasons of prudential husbanding of 
resources, not because it is old. If this sequen- 
tial building had any effect on the child save 
handicapping his natural endeavor, if the sym- 
bolism did work, its legitimate result would be 
to develop a blind respect for whatever is, — an 
unreasoning conservation of the old. This we 
do not desire. Again, the effect of " sequence " 
is bad. 

A third aspect of " sequence " is seen in the 
exemplification of another favorite " law " of 
Froebel's. In making the " beauty forms '* 
with the blocks of the fourth gift (brick-shaped) 
two forms appear, the " radiate " and the 
*' circular." " These forms are counterparts. 
The appearance of forms which are at once 
antithetic and related calls for mediation or 
transition. . . . Hence the radiate form must be 
connected by intermediate forms with the circu- 

134 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

lar. . . . These transitional forms demand a fresh 
mediation " (4 : 187). Some not well acquainted 
with Froebel's writings may inquire whether 
the writer has not unfairly selected for comment 
mere chance excrescences of Froebel's kinder- 
garten system. That such is not the case will 
appear from Froebel's explicit statement regard- 
ing this particular sequence, that " in the visible 
connection of the pure antitheses lies the forma- 
tive and instructive influence of this (the fourth) 
gift for the child " (4 :190) . Some of us watching 
children at play with their blocks may have 
thought that the value to them lay nearer at 
hand ; but Froebel's opinion is far otherwise. 
In this " visible connection of the pure antith- 
eses . . . the child early anticipates, perceives, 
and recognizes how intimately the finite and 
infinite, necessity and freedom, law and free 
will, are connected with another." The reader is 
asked to note the words, " early . . . perceives 
and recognizes, . . . the finite and infinite. . . ." 
Could symbolism claim more.^^ As if in very 
denial of any unfair emphasis upon symbolism 
and the law of opposites, Froebel continues : 

135 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

" The illustration of this universal law by means 
of perceptible phenomena is, in our judgment, as 
important for the heart and soul culture of the 
child as . . . the inhalation of air from the at- 
mosphere " (4 : 190). The simple truth is that 
Froebel's conscious formulation of the kinder- 
garten and of its practice are based in the 
larger part upon these two mistaken principles 
of " opposites " and symbolism ; and it is 
high time that the entire kindergarten world 
should recognize this fact.^ 

" Forms of life." — A more defensible use of 
the gifts is seen in the so-called " forms of life," 
considered apart from the practice of " sequence." 
These " forms of life " involve a symbolism 
which we must distinguish sharply from the 
symbolism designed to wake innate ideas. In 
our discussion in Chapter III (page 73) we re- 
ferred to the symbolism of childish imaginative 
play, in which the object, or symbol, permits on 



' It is not too much to say that the fundamental difference between 
"conservatives" and "progressives" in the kindergarten ranks is exactly 
upon the acceptance or rejection of these two doctrines. Those who 
reject feel the consequent necessity for a thoroughgoing remaking of the 
kindergarten program and procedure. 

136 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

the child plane an activity normally belonging 
to adult life. A mud pie, for instance, allows 
the child to be first cook and then hostess, in 
imitation of what she has seen in adult life. 
Here the child reproduces, acts out, " tries on " 
what she has observed in the home. In so doing 
an element of make-believe enters. Is coffee 
desired, clear water can take its place. The 
coffee pot may even be entirely empty ; but 
if only the pouring be simulated, hostess and 
guest will drink with all seriousness from empty 
cups. This imaginative element seems a benefi- 
cent counterpart of childish helplessness, for it 
disappears with advancing years through the 
various stages of empty cup, pure water, coffee- 
colored water, some actual drink prepared by 
the child, and finally coffee prepared by the 
cook. As the counterpart of childish inability 
to procure the actual objects of adult life, this 
power to make-believe more than supplies the 
deficiency. Not only is the imitated activity 
thereby allowed to proceed in all its im- 
agined fullness, but the very act of imagining 
supplies additional zest. The psychologist, how- 

137 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

ever, sees that the act of imagining is most 
pleasurable only when it is naturally subordinate 
as means to the portrayal of mimic life initiated 
self -actively by the child itself. When Froebel 
uses the child's fondness for the imaginative as 
motive to secure the manipulation of concept 
giving blocks, apart from child initiated play, 
then the child's imagination has been turned 
aside from its true function ; and sentimental- 
ity is the result. In one paragraph (4 : 98 f .) 
Froebel mentions twenty things that the cube 
can represent to the child, and even then not 
content adds " innumerable other things." He 
explains that " the child will be early led through 
this representation to perceive and comprehend 
one thing under many points of view " ^ (4 : 99). 
Clearly here Froebel is concerned not that the 
child express himself through play, but that 
the cube may teach the logical concept of " the 
one and the many." If the child in the course of 
his own self -initiated play wishes to use a block 
for now one thing and now another, even up to 
twenty times, good only and not harm has 

' The italics as elsewhere are Froebel's. 
138 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

resulted. But if the kindergartner, in her de- 
termination that the child attain some external 
end that she has set, have him imagine that a 
cube is, in order, a table, a stool, a chair, a hearth, 
a chest, a bureau, a house, etc., etc., then is 
the natural function of imagination so perverted 
that the child becomes blase, sl result that the 
kindergarten critics have more than once pointed 
out. The use of the blocks and other elements 
in the gift series to represent " forms of life '* 
is one of the most fruitful of Froebel's contri- 
butions ; but the pleasure inherent in this 
must not be used as sugar coating for " nasty " 
metaphysical pills. Fortunately, a better soul 
physic has seen that the metaphysical pills 
are not good, or at best useless, for children, 
so that we may now prescribe real play from real 
child motives, resting assured that out of such 
will come the best results. 

" Forms of knowledge." — We have several 
times referred to " forms of life " and '* forms 
of beauty." " Forms of knowledge " com- 
plete the trio. These three terms refer to three 
diverse uses or purposes of the gifts. Life 

139 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

forms refer to those uses of the gifts or occu- 
pations which represent things of social hfe, 
as table, chair, bird, wagon, etc. Beauty forms 
are such arrangements of this material as are 
intended to appeal to the esthetic appreciation. 
These are usually made symmetrical with re- 
spect to a center. Knowledge forms are those 
arrangements which are designed to teach facts 
of arithmetic or geometry. In these three uses 
of the gift, the forms of life should be given 
first, then the forms of knowledge, and last the 
forms of beauty. " I consider it very im- 
portant," says Froebel, " to retain this transi- 
tion in general" (4:186), although elsewhere 
he possibly contradicts himself by apparently 
approving a transition " from use to beauty, 
and beauty to truth" (4:219). Enough has 
previously been given about *' life forms " 
and " beauty forms " ; but so far little has 
been said of " knowledge forms." 

The use of knowledge forms begins with the 
"child from one to three years old" (4:138), 
and includes some fractional concepts that we 
of the present generally postpone to a later 

140 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

age. For instance, with the eight small cubes, 
the nurse sings : 

"Look here and see ! One whole, two halves ; 
One half, two fourths ; two halves, four fourths ; 
One whole, four fourths ; 
Four fourths, eight eighths ; 
Eight eighths, one whole. 

Here are many, here are few ; 

It's a magic way to do " (4 : 139). 

" Now what is the aim of all this ? " asks Froe- 
bel, and he answers that: " It is ... by no means 
intended . . . with the so-called forms of learning, 
that the child should already definitely compre- 
hend relations of size and number, but that a 
certain tone be always connected with a certain 
perception, and the tone, when it is again heard, 
may recall a certain perception, and so anything 
indefinite or empty may never come near the 
child " (4 : 141). Some of us would think that 
nothing more " indefinite or empty " than such 
songs as these could be brought before the 
child of from one to three years of age.^ 

The knowledge forms " adapted to children 
three and four years of age " (4 : 185) are more 

* Possibly under two years of age. See Pedagogics of the Kindergarten, 
p. 141. 

141 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

geometrical in character. The play is now 

with the fourth gift (eight brick-shaped blocks 

forming a cube). After many similar plays and 

songs, this is sung : 

"Now I will give you something new, 
Something you will like to do : 
Twice as long and half as wide, 
Half as long and tivice as wide, 
The same size are we two" (4 : 185). 

Froebel in immediate connection says of such 
exercises that " their contemplation and com- 
prehension are perfectly suited to the life, mind, 
and spirit of children three and four years of 
age, and so wholly adapted to actual free play " 
(4 : 185). It is unnecessary to say that the whole 
world of educators, Froebelians and non-Froe- 
belians alike, are in opposition to the judg- 
ment here expressed. We may add that 
Froebel, never content to leave things on a 
matter-of-fact basis, says that " such exer- 
cises, moreover, give the child a presentiment 
of the inner harmony of nature and life " 
(4 : 185 f.). How such may be true, this writer 
does not know. 

When we come to the fifth gift, a cube com- 
142 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

posed of twenty -one small cubes, six half cubes, 
and twelve quarter cubes, the proposed knowl- 
edge forms become truly appalling. Although 
the child is to be allowed " entire freedom in 
developing from a given point of departure," we 
find Froebel saying: "Thus proceeding from the 
rectangular prism the child may, according to his 
own impulse, develop the rhomboidal prism to the 
trapezoidal prism. These forms lead on to the 
hexagonal and pentagonal prisms" (4:208). 
If this were simple manipulation, it would not be 
as bad as it sounds ; but the child must know 
the forms he is building. His " representations 
must be lifted into the clearness and precision 
for which he longs (sic) and finally his produc- 
tions must be clearly defined in words " (4 : 210). 
As might have been foreseen, Froebel sees 
development symbolized in this construction. 
" Here as everywhere the point of prime im- 
portance for its formative influence is the de- 
velopment of one form from another " (4 : 212). 
Although the symbolic value is " here as 
everywhere the point of prime importance," 
the pure geometry involved is not to be over- 

143 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

looked. Thus, having made a trapezoid, the 

child is taught to sing : 

" Blunt angles on the shorter side we see ; 
Sharp angles on the longer sides must be" (4 : 210). 

Or again the child having built, under direction, 

a triangular right prism and next a quadrangular 

right prism of half the height and twice the base, 

he is taught to sing : 

"Four corners you can bring to view, 
While only three I show to you. 
Twice as tall I am as you, 
Just as long, and it is true 
That, as we cover equal ground. 
Our contents equal must be found" (4 : 218). 

Enough has been given of the '* forms of 
knowledge " to show that Froebel does not ade- 
quately adapt the selection of " knowledge " 
to the child plane. Granting that the normal 
child could be led, under skilled direction, 
through these exercises, two insuperable ob- 
jections would still remain. Such exercises 
contradict the demand for spontaneous interest 
(" self -activity "), and they seek to convey in- 
formation that cannot function vitally in the 
child life. To call such didactic activities by 

144 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

the name of play is to degrade the term. To 
find educational value in them one would be com- 
pelled to accept some unwarranted disciplinary 
theory. This, of course, is what Froebel did, 
both in his symbolism and in his doctrine of 
logical anticipation. Because all material ob- 
jects have mathematical volume, therefore the 
child must antecedently learn of volume in order 
to comprehend the material world. From every 
point of view then we feel compelled to reject, 
in Froebel's direct intent, these " forms of 
knowledge " as unsuited to the early curricu- 
lum. 

Significance of the gift series. — To prolong 
further our review of the gift series and its use 
would unduly weary even the most patient 
reader. We have seen that Froebel's purpose 
in devising the series was to secure the develop- 
ment of the child by means of suitably chosen 
occupations and games. Passing by the error 
of conceiving development as mere unfolding, 
we must see in Froebel's endeavor one of the 
most original and most valuable suggestions 
yet made for the education of the child. Never 
L 145 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

before had an elaborate regime of early educa- 
tion been devised independently of prescribed 
intellectual tasks. True, Jean Paul Richter 
had written of such, and Wilderspin had de- 
vised an institution in which the child had more 
joy and freedom than theretofore ; but Jean 
Paul achieved neither device nor institution, 
and Wilderspin's effort was substantially but a 
sugar coating for formal learning. Froebel, 
on the contrary, intended to supply, largely 
from observation of actual child life, those ac- 
tivities in and through which the child might 
attain his destined growth and development. 
In furtherance of this, he first (before 1826) 
seized upon building and representation in 
general, as a valuable exercise for the child, 
believing that in play the child should, " at 
least mentally repeat the achievements of man- 
kind, that they may not be to him empty, dead 
masses, that his judgment of them may not be 
external and spiritless " (1 : 282). For these 
building purposes Froebel (in common with 
Wilderspin) used blocks of various shapes, from 
one to twelve inches in length. The most 

146 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

numerous, " at least five hundred " in number, 
were brick shaped, 2 X 1 X J inches (1 : 283 f.). 
It is interesting to note that the fourth gift 
was years later to consist exactly of eight of 
these bricks. Subsequently, in 1836, Froebel 
tells us, " the ball, the sphere, and the cube, 
as the earliest toys of childhood were discovered 
and worked out, but still in the same remark- 
able retrograde fashion, from the cube proceed- 
ing to the sphere" (6:107). The order of 
genesis in his own mind seemed thus to have 
been (1) blocks one inch square, one to twelve 
inches long (1 : 283), (2) the brick-shaped 
blocks^ (fourth gift), (3) the cube, (4) the 
sphere. It is worthy of comment how near 
this is to the reversed order of the final series. 
Even during the earlier period (before 1826) 
Froebel had stressed the intellectualistic. When 
the boy had built, he must describe in words 
exactly what he had done : *' I have built a 
vertical wall with vertical ends, a door, and two 
windows at equal distances, etc." (1 : 284). 



^ It is possible that these first two stages were simultaneous, or even 
reversed. 

147 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

In bringing each step thus to clear conscious- 
ness Froebel was quite possibly influenced by 
his master, Pestalozzi. Some, Froebel says, 
were " inclined to doubt the utility of these 
exercises" (1:282). For himself he thought 
" this instruction [building, drawing, model- 
ing, etc.] addresses itself equally to the senses 
and through them to the power of thought, and 
to external manual activity" (1:294). 

It is instructive, though sad, to reconstruct 
the successive steps in Froebel's thinking. 
The intellectualistic end, implied here, ex- 
plicit elsewhere in the Education of Man, came 
to dominate more and more. When he gave 
up teaching older boys for the study of in- 
fancy, he must, as he saw it, in some way 
compass it that the young child get the ideas 
logically prior to an explanation of the universe. 
To this end there must be selected and arranged 
a hierarchy of ideas ; the most inclusive to be 
appropriated first by the child, and so on in 
descending order of importance.^ Among these 

* " . . . My general method of development and nm-ture . . . which de- 
scends from the universal to the particular" (4 : 237). See also 8 : 210 £f. 

148 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

ideas unity stood first as most important, be- 
cause most inclusive. How shall the child get 
this hierarchy? For some of the ideas not too 
high in the scale, such as space and time, and 
geometric concepts, ordinary experience — Froe- 
bel thought — would suffice, if suflSciently re- 
peated. For the more inclusive ideas higher 
up in the hierarchy, which clearly transcend 
child experience, the doctrine of innate ideas 
and symbolic awakening of these was seized 
upon. When this stage has been reached in 
Froebel's thinking, the simple wooden blocks 
would no longer suffice. Other gifts and occu- 
pations must be devised in accordance with the 
demands of symbolism, and the whole arranged 
to meet these demands, including particularly 
the illustration of the law of opposites. The 
purpose of the now complete series was thus to 
give to the child this hierarchy of ideas : unity, 
unity in diversity, plurality, mediation of op- 
posites, the general and the particular, Glied- 
ganzes, space, time, being, becoming, sundry 
geometrical and numerical facts, etc. For this 
the reliance was, primarily, on symbolism — 

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FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

powerful enough to work in ways no mortal 
can understand — and, secondarily, on many 
times repeated experience which can cope with 
the less difficult ideas, though even here Froebel 
goes far beyond sober observation. 

This then is the genesis of Froebel' s later 
theory and practice, a sad degeneration from 
his own earlier and better thinking. Having 
accepted symbolism and believing that the 
mediation of opposites is in very truth the fun- 
damental fact in the universe, he bases on these 
practically the whole procedure of his new in- 
stitution, the kindergarten. How the kinder- 
garten in spite of these fundamental errors 
has in it, nevertheless, some tremendously 
vital elements, — this is a question later to be 
discussed. 

Summary of the chapter. — In the meantime 
we conclude of Froebel's gift and occupation 
series : (1) that its immediate purpose of giving 
to the child a hierarchy of all-inclusive ideas is 
an error based on a confusion of logic and psy- 
chology ; (2) that the primary means of ac- 
complishing this purpose, namely, by symbolism, 

150 



KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS 

is founded on a false and misleading psychology ; 
and (3) that the secondary means, namely, habit- 
uation to certain abstract ideas, is derived from 
a mistaken observation of child activity. From 
another point of view we further conclude 
(4) that there has as yet appeared no suflScient 
reason for seeking a specific and definite series 
of materials for the education of the young 
child ; (5) if such were demanded, the (quasi) 
logical method of devising it is in total violation 
of child psychology ; (6) Froebel's proposed 
series is unwarranted in theory and unjustified 
in practice ; (7) the further use of Froebel's 
series as such obstructs the scientific search for 
a better curriculum, handicaps the intelligent 
kindergartner, and violates the child's right to 
enjoy the best known tuition. 



151 



CHAPTER V 

ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS OF THE KINDERGARTEN 
CURRICULUM 

While the gift series makes up the most defi- 
nite part of Froebel's kindergarten curriculum, 
there are other elements which demand con- 
sideration. Among these none now stands 
out more strikingly than the use of games. 
What then was Froebel's purpose in regard to 
these ? 

Froebel's use of games. — The play of 
earlier childhood is by Froebel distinguished 
from the play of boyhood in that " activity as 
such " is the characteristic of the former, while \ 
the latter includes " a definite conscious pur- 
pose " (1 : 112). The latter is found chiefly in 
games, where the social element is the pro- 
nounced characteristic. The good results to 
flow from boys' games could hardly be bet- 
ter stated : " justice, moderation, self-control, 

152 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

truthfulness, loyalty, brotherly love, and yet also 
strict impartiality . . . courage, perseverance, 
resolution, prudence . . . forbearance, considera- 
tion, sympathy and encouragement " (1 : 113*). 
At a later date, Froebel, discussing the games 
seen by him in Pestalozzi's school, says that 
" the higher symbolic meaning of games had 
not yet dawned upon me " (2 : 82). Just when 
this " symbolic meaning of games " did come, 
we cannot say, but it proved with the advanc- 
ing years an increasingly important factor in 
his discussion of the subject. 

In the making of games for the kindergarten 
Froebel followed at least a partially inductive 
method of procedure. " A large majority of 
our games I have obtained, just as they are, 
simply by watching children at play, then re- 
casting their games in the spirit of my whole 
system" (6:94*). The social value of such 
games is evident. " Combined games for many 
children . . . train the child, eager by his very 
nature for companionship, in the habit of asso- 
ciation with comrades " (6 : 253), a statement 
evidently in thorough accord with the best 

153 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

current psychology. Most of our schools of 
all grades would do well to utilize this general 
conception in a far more thoroughgoing manner. 
While the jflexibility of Froebel's daily program 
is in many respects open to question, in the 
matter of games he is explicit. What he pre- 
sents are " just samples of what may be done 
. . . the true kindergartner will listen to the 
suggestion of the children and will be guided 
by circumstances" (9:177). It may be re- 
membered by some that on one occasion, at 
least, the games divided the time equally with 
building (6 : 55). 

The physical aspect of games likewise in- 
terested Froebel. In one place he speaks of 
" little games arranged to exercise the limbs 
and senses of the child" {6:'^5'2,). Elsewhere 
he asserts that in his games are embodied " all 
the main exercises of gymnastics " (6 : 64) ; 
and in the Pedagogics of the Kindergarten (p. 
272 f.) he gives a number of physical exercises 
in connection with the ball games. There are 
moreover a number of references to exercise in 
the " open air " (4 : 250), including running 

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OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

races (4:265). Readers of Froebel will recall 
in this connection his opinion that " every 
town should have its common playground " 
(1 : 114) ; and how at another time he plans 
to train playground directors (6: 162). 

An examination of the movement games 
described by Froebel (4 : 237 ff .) discloses a 
number that are very attractive to children : 
" The child likes to walk " (played in a ring), 
" We all like to walk " (this may mean an actual 
visit in the neighborhood), " The snail " (in 
which a line of children winds itself into a spiral 
and then unwinds), " The wheel " (in which the 
children make up a turning wheel), and various 
other circling games. If these are well played 
with lively songs and apt rhythmic movements, 
they greatly delight the children. In the actual 
utilization of such games Froebel made a great 
and permanent contribution to early education. 
So far as I know he deserves entire credit for 
doing thoroughly pioneer work along this line. 
Others had written of it, still others had en- 
couraged games as enjoyable recreation. Froe- 
bel first utilized them for their educative value. 

155 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

The school of the future will make even more 
thoroughgoing use of games and play. 

The superior value of these games to some 
other of Froebel's kindergarten activities is due 
partly to the fact that in these his peculiar 
doctrines — while present in theory — have less 
effect on practice. The reader will recall that 
the games collected by Froebel were recast 
" in the spirit of his whole system." He speaks 
thus of the " inner spirit " of the games (6 : 82) 
and of their " inmost deepest meaning " (6 : 83). 
Knowing Froebel, we are not surprised to hear 
that he has "little songs ... to lay bare the 
inner meaning of the game " (6 : 253 f.), nor 
to learn that " the comprehension of the games 
to be arrived at later on by the growing mind 
of the child is the main thing to aim at " (6 : 88). 
So insistent is Froebel on this meaning aspect 
that he goes so far as to assert that " we have 
here no childish or one-sided play, but games 
which represent true thoughts and ideas of 
adult and cultivated men" (6:86 f.). Even 
Froebel, lover of children as he was, could not 
get entirely away from the age-old conception 

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OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

that the child life is real only to the degree 
that it prepares for the (supposedly) real life 
of the adult. 

The "inner meaning" of games. — To ex- 
plain this " inner meaning of the games " 
which must be " laid bare," several points are 
brought out by Froebel. The child should be 
questioned as to what he has seen in his walk- 
ing games that he may learn " not to pass by 
objects without observing them " (4 : 246), and 
" praise is awarded to most acute observation " 
(4 : 250). Whatever value attaches to this is 
at best incidental rather than inherent in the 
games as such ; we may therefore pass it by. 
Certain open-air games have to do with flowers 
and plants. " The object of such games ... is 
to draw the children to the observation of natu- 
ral phenomena, and at the same time to sym- 
pathy with the pure, eternal, unresting, ever 
peaceful, helpful life of nature" (6:94). To 
what extent the second aim of nature study 
here expressed is desirable and feasible, in- 
dividual interpreters of child life will differ. 
To wish this and to seek it is, however, 

157 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

thoroughly characteristic of the Froebehan 
position. 

The " inner meaning " so dear to Froebel is 
as elsewhere in kindergarten practice most 
closely associated with the ball and circle. 
Strangely enough Froebel even insists that *'the 
ball has furnished incitement and type " for 
the movement games described above, although 
the ball was in no wise used (4:269). In 
another kind of game where the ball is used, 
he says, " the movement of the ball seemed 
to affect the children magnetically" (4:269). 
Perhaps — some carping critic may add — the 
same thing is true in a modern football match. 
Again Froebel speaks of the " almost magic 
effects obtainable by ball games, especially 
with sickly rather stupid children." That he 
is describing what he has seen is pathetically 
evident : these " remain uninterested for a 
length of time together. At last you see pleas- 
ure rise, as if from a deep grave, and smiles 
spread over their faces, and their little arms 
seem to acquire life for the first time " (6 : 101). 
But we are by this time thoroughly accustomed 

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OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

to Froebel's extravagant claims in behalf of the 
ball. The symbolized conception of a whole 
and of unity is always dear to him. We referred 
above to " the snail " as an attractive play for 
the child. Froebel approves it as the closing 
game of a series, because " it unites all the 
children in one whole of living activity, and 
finally yields the form of the circle which is 
symbolic ^ of wholeness " (4 : 256). 

But of all childish activity, circular action 
games have most significance. " The games in 
a circle hardly ever make the children tired. 
The reasons of this fact lie very deep, to my 
thinking." These reasons are thus set out : 

*' This kind of play is the symbol of a triple 
life. First it is the symbol of the individual 
life ; . . . for all our actions tend, like those 
of the children in their games, to some one 
invisible fundamental . . . longing of the soul. 

" Second, it is the symbol of the life of 



* The word "symbolic" which Miss Jarvis here uses does not occur 
in the original, but is perhaps fairiy to be inferred. A literal translation 
would be that the snail is "in every respect adapted" (gam geeignet) 
to close a series of games, "because it unites all the playfellows into a 
lively and in the end completely formed whole, the circle" (14 : 346). 

159 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

nature, where, as . . . with the planets, all 
revolves about a midmost unity. . . . 

*' And thirdly, it is a symbol of the collective 
life of mankind in general, whose ultimate . . . 
union rests also on the invisible midmost unity 
of all life . . ." (6:61). 

Does the reader in defense reply that these 
ideas concern the kindergartner only ? Froe- 
bel answers, in immediate connection, " I 
hold it certain that a child yearns (ahnet) for 
such symbolized relations of life." And he 
continues, " if, as opportunity offers, they are 
awakened, and raised up to become an inward 
and spiritual intuition, the child will be 
strengthened for that demand later to be 
made upon him, that he shall hold fast to the 
invisible unity of life amidst the ceaseless 
changing play of phenomena " (6 : 61). 

Other concepts besides unity are involved in 
the circular movement games. A large circle 
of children is broken up into several small 
circles, and these are later recombined. '* In 
this way," says Froebel, " the particular, the 
individual, and the universal are shown in 

160 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

gradation and harmony " (4 : 280). To whom, 
do you ask, are these general ideas shown? 
Froebel adds : " Through experiences of this 
kind the child is prepared to recognize the 
relationship of particular and universal in 
nature and in life, and finally to realize the 
significance of these relationships in the struc- 
ture of the universe" (4:280). Whether the 
reader can accept this statement or not, Froebel 
thoroughly believed it. The Festival on the 
Altenstein, arranged by Froebel in 1850, and 
described by him at length (7:24-66), was 
based exactly on such psychology. The motto 
of the occasion was a quotation from Schiller : 

" Deep meaning often lies in childish play " (8 : 109). 

First a large circle was formed of all the 
children, " all the faces were turned toward the 
middle of the circle, and thus each surveyed the 
whole. ... In this way was to come to each 
participant the most efiicient and highest per- 
ception of the life, . . . the outwardly invisible 
unity determining the whole, here the invisible 
center which yet determines the circle " 

M 161 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

(7:29 f.). Then eight concentric circles were 
formed. " This classification expressed that 
. . . the bearing in mind of one idea does not 
exclude the formation of subordinate wholes " 
(7:31). As the children sang "See us all in 
union here," the circle moved alternately to the 
right and to the left, to show that one idea can 
prevail in spite of that " which is opposite in 
outward appearance " (7 : 31). Each circle now 
broke and joined with the others in such way 
as to form a spiral, the leader stepping to the 
center. " The invisible middle had become 
visible in its attracting and uniting power " ; 
and as they marched, " the whole developed 
again from the center, like the plant from the 
germ" (7:32). So far we have seen sym- 
bolized in this festival the all-inclusive direct- 
ing unity, the member-whole relationship, the 
mediation of opposites, and the concept of 
development. To Froebel " it seems almost 
impossible that the aforesaid perceptions should 
have no effect on the life of the child " 
(7:37). 

Vicarious symbolism. — As if considering 
162 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

possible objections to the symbolic use of 
games, Froebel admits that he does not " in- 
tend that such meanings should come to con- 
sciousness in the child in the extent " that the 
songs used would suggest. He then directs 
that " the loving kindergartner should retain 
the meaning as clearly as possible. This clear 
perception of the meaning of the play by the 
kindergartner acts on the child's mind as the 
clear sunshine and warm air act on the germs, 
buds, and blossoms in the spring, warming, 
developing, forming for the child, into thought- 
fulness, intelligence, rationality, understanding 
of life and union " (7 : 41). 

Much has been made of this vicarious sym- 
bolism by certain followers of Froebel. As a 
rule these realize the futility of expecting the 
symbolism to affect the child directly, yet are 
loath to give up a doctrine so essential to their 
system. They accordingly take refuge in Froe- 
bel's suggestion quoted above, and give the 
kindergarten novitiate an even more thorough 
grounding in symbolism in the hope that from 
her effluence the child may after all receive the 

163 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

desired beneficent results. If any one has 
heretofore thought that straight FroebeUan 
symbohsm was the limit of obscurantism, what 
will he say to this naive psychology which 
thinks that symbolism merely held in the 
kindergartner's mind can bring to the child 
such results as Froebel promises? Leaving so 
impossible a doctrine to fall of its own weight, 
we turn from the effects on the child to the effect 
on the teacher. In the main our previous dis- 
cussion of the baselessness of symbolism for 
the child holds here as well. The kindergarten 
novitiate can, it is true, appreciate symbolism 
in cases where the child cannot. Such in- 
stances, if worth while, belong largely to poetry, 
which does not use the Froebelian psychology. 
In those other cases where the young kinder- 
gartner can intellectually catch some glimmer- 
ing of the Froebelian symbolism involved, the 
result is as worthless as can well be imagined. 
What waste of time could, for instance, be 
greater or more inane than that of having girls 
in the training school point out all the sym- 
bolism put by Froebel's direction into the 

164 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

original pictures of the Mother Play book? 
Yet this practice is to be found even now. 

Still more serious is the obstacle that such a 
use of symbolism puts in the way of scientific 
psychology. If the kindergartner selects games 
from the point of view of symbolism and directs 
her pupils accordingly, she is directing by that 
which is essentially untrue to child psychology, 
and she must in consequence fail to make the 
best use of her time and efforts. It is like 
beating tom-toms to avert pestilence. Atten- 
tion and faith being directed to the useless, not 
only is the immediate situation not met but 
progress in scientific method is the longer post- 
poned. Symbolism administered to the teacher 
does less harm than when given directly to the 
child. Its immediate effects at any rate are 
less pernicious. But looking to the future, one 
would almost prefer that the symbolism were 
given directly to the children and with all its 
extravagances. Common sense would then re- 
coil and banish it utterly, root and branch, 
from kindergarten education. 

Mother plays and the Mother Play book. — 
165 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

It is but a step from games to the Mother 
Play. No other of Froebel's books has 
occasioned so much dispute. It is described 
by Froebel himself as a " book for mothers 
and families for the very first training of the 
child, that is, for mere babyhood " (6 : 250*). 
One group of kindergartners while tenacious of 
the Froebelian tradition has made small use of 
the Mother Play, apparently deeming that it 
properly belongs to the pre-kindergarten age. 
Another group has made it practically the core 
of the kindergarten procedure. Still a third 
has used it but little, holding that other better 
material is available. It is impossible not to 
feel some sympathy for those Froebelians who 
defend the book. It contains as adequate an 
account of Froebel's essential position as we 
have. The Education of Man, in many respects 
Froebel's masterpiece, was written before he 
had any special interest in very young children. 
The collections of articles found in the Peda- 
gogics of the Kindergarten and Education by 
Development tend to be expository and dry, 
often descending to wearisome details. The 

166 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

Mutter und Kose Lieder by contrast concern 
the young child especially and are never 
mechanically expository. They represent the 
height of Froebel's interest in the child, pictured 
to us at the child's most attractive age — baby- 
hood. There can be no doubt that Froebel 
presents here, as few elsewhere have done, the 
movement of maternal instinct. Said Froebel 
to the young mother, " these songs, games, and 
stories . . . are to help you get a firm hold 
over the earliest life of childhood, while your 
child is a baby in arms" (3:124*). The 
first verses in the book describe " a mother's 
feelings on seeing her first-born child." The 
first of the plays is the " Kicking Song." 

" When happy Baby moves his arms and feet ; 
In mother stirs the love of play most sweet " (3 : 12). 

The appeal of the book is thus first of all to 
one of the deepest emotions, especially deep in 
those who elect to be kindergartners. No 
wonder that rejection on merely rational 
grounds should provoke antagonism on the 
part of those who have not clearly differentiated 
the nature of the appeal. A second motive is 

167 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

the mystical ; fewer feel this, but they feel it 
strong. Those kindergartners in whom this 
attitude is pronounced find ever increasing 
satisfaction in Froebel's writings — so sure is he, 
and so intimately has he entered into mysteries 
that ever draw them on. For them Froebelian 
doctrine becomes a religion. The Froebel cult 
accordingly appears. 

If we confine our attention to the general 
statement of Froebel's thought and idea, the 
pedagogical purpose of the Mother Play book 
is sound. It is essentially an effort to note the 
child's instinctive reactions and to utilize these 
to the realization of the social ideal. Play, the 
natural play of childish nature and endeavor, 
is to serve as medium both for discovering to the 
observer the natural interests and for leading 
these to their proper social goal. No statement 
of educational method — at least for the tender 
years — could be sounder or more attractive. 
So pleasant would be the task of elaborating the 
many valuable ramifications of the doctrine that 
one could wish this were an idea new to the educa- 
tional world to be treated here for the first time. 

168 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

But when we ask how Froebel meant the 
book to be used in furtherance of this general 
purpose, the prospect changes. Doubts and 
uncertainties arise. Froebel says the book is 
" for the very first training of the child, that is, 
for mere babyhood ; influencing and training 
the child's body, his limbs and senses, as well 
as his soul, his mind and his whole inner 
nature " (6 : 250). An examination of the book 
itself will disclose many evidences of this pur- 
pose. The many finger plays point to infancy. 
*' Pat-a-cake " goes back to the babe in arms. 
In the play of the " Weathercock " (repre- 
sented by the baby's outspread hand), it is 
specifically stated that " your child cannot 
speak yet" (3:132). We may agree then — 
as all do — that in one of its aspects the book 
is designed for " mere babyhood." 

But it contemplates also older children. 
Froebel hoped, even while the book was pre- 
paring, that it might be " handed down from 
mother to children's children as the book of the 
family " (6 : 123). He meant that it should be 
a picture book for the child at the age *' where 

169 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

he enjoys passing from anything to the picture 
of it " (3 : 124). Just how old Froebel thought 
this would be is not easy to say, but from 
many considerations we need not hesitate in 
supposing that the book is designed to in- 
fluence children appreciably beyond the kin- 
dergarten age. 

Use of the Mother Play book. — What rela- 
tion has the book to the kindergarten? In 
practice, as stated above, orthodox Froebelians 
have differed. Some have in effect eliminated 
the *' mother plays " from kindergarten pro- 
cedure. Others have made them the basis of a 
large part of the kindergarten program. What 
was Froebel's purpose? The name and his 
well-nigh universal reference make the book one 
for mothers rather than for kindergartners. 
He did say that the book should form " the 
basis of kindergarten teaching " (6 : 311) ; but 
this probably means no more than that the same 
principles hold of earliest childhood as of the 
kindergarten age. Its use in American kinder- 
gartens has probably been due to the feeling 
that the homes did not supply the nurture 

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OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

contemplated in the Mother Play book, while, 
besides, the games suggested in it supply an 
important element otherwise scantily provided 
in the Froebelian program. 

Froebel's proposed method of using the book 
can be illustrated by the ** Weathercock," one 
of the better plays. When the child is yet a 
babe in arms, unable to talk, he is taught to 
flatten his hand and hold his thumb up so as to 
represent the cock of the German weather- 
vane. This may seem a very simple game 
" yet it gives your child pleasure — fresh pleas- 
ure every time, and it is a long time before it 
ceases to do so. . . . Only see with what 
pleasure, but with what seriousness he moves 
his small hand when you invite him by saying, 
* show me what the weathercock does ! ' " 
(3:132). 

What now is Froebel's purpose in this play.f^ 
" Have you not noticed," asks Froebel, " that 
when you move an object before a child so 
that the motive power is somewhat distant 
from the object, it gives the child more pleas- 
ure to seek the cause of the movement than to 

171 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

look at the moving object ? " In Froebel's 
opinion, "it is the same thing here ; it is the 
feehng and controlUng the reason of a conse- 
quence, the cause of an effect, which makes 
your child look so serious as well as so happy. 
. . . He is giving a practical representation 
. . . that a moving cause, a moving power, is 
the secret of the object's moving at all." This 
then is Froebel's purpose, namely, that the 
babe come to the conclusion that " a living, 
lively, and enlivening force is at the bottom of 
the living, lively object " (3 : 132 f.). 

We may for the moment postpone the use 
of the " Weathercock " for older children, 
while we look at the psychology of this ac- 
count as given by Froebel. That the child 
will acquire and enjoy such movements is too 
well known for any one to question. That he 
does also look in a childish way for causes of 
movements and does himself enjoy — later on — 
being the cause of a movement, — these are 
undoubted. It is further quite certainly true 
that the child's experience in seeing objects 
move and in himself initiating movements 

172 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

furnishes essential conditions in the formation 
of his concept of a living body. In this partic- 
ular case we may well question whether the 
babe's pleasure in moving his hand at request 
is the same as his later pleasure in causing 
effects. So that we question whether this par- 
ticular infant play, in the way here explained, 
is tending very directly to develop in the child's 
mind the concept of a living force at the bottom 
of manifestations of life. But let this objec- 
tion pass, suppose that it does so act. And let 
us not stop to question the scientific accuracy 
of the concept sought by Froebel. We may, 
however, very properly question whether the 
mother or the kindergartner need at the tender 
years before six trouble to direct the formation 
of such concepts. In so far as such concepts 
are desirable they will most probably take care 
of themselves in an ordinarily rich child life. 
Upon the concepts thus incidently formed may 
be later built whatever more conscious formu- 
lations are then necessary. If the child — 
without our conscious direction — never got 
the notion of animate creatures sufficient for 

173 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

his needs and for later development, then by 
all means we should take pains to see that he 
has the opportunity. His associations with 
humans will, however, pretty well supply all 
that is needed. Playing with pets and watch- 
ing other animate life will do the rest. Such 
opportunities the child should have. Greater 
consciousness on the part of mother or kinder- 
gartner of what concept formation is taking 
place along this line might be dangerous, es- 
pecially so if she has the Froebelian idea 
that the more she is conscious of the ulti- 
mate concept to be attained by the child, the 
better he will attain it. The danger is that the 
greater consciousness in the older mind will 
manifest itself in pushing adult formulation 
upon the child's mind. Priggish precocity 
would under such circumstances naturally, if 
not inevitably, result. 

But the " Weathercock," as other '* mother 
plays," concerns also older children. " On a 
rather windy, almost boisterous day," says 
Froebel in words addressed to the mother, 
" your dear children go with you to the drying 

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OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

ground in front of your house. Here they 
see, as the picture shows, many manifestations 
of the power of the wind. The vane on the 
church tower creaks ; the Hnen hung out to dry 
flaps in the wind ; a pennant improvised by the 
boy waves on high; the windmill claps noisily. 
* Mother ! isn't the wind very strong to-day ? 
. . . Where does the wind come from, that 
moves everything in this way ? ' The mother 
answers, ' . . . There are many things, my child, 
which we can certainly perceive, but cannot see. 
. . . Your hand moves, but you cannot see the 
power that moves it ,. . . later you will see more 
and more where it comes from ' " (3: 133 f.). 

Clearly Froebel is suggesting to the mother 
to use the ordinary phenomena of life as the 
basis of concept formation. As so stated, no 
better outside direction can come to children. 
The pictures in the Mother Play book are evi- 
dently designed to guide the mother as well as 
the child to the study and utilization of such 
phenomena. The general notion is most ex- 
cellent. The particular conceptions that Froe- 
bel wishes to bring to consciousness in the 

175 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

child's mind may, however, be open to question. 
Some are better than others. Scientifically, 
we may question in the case at hand whether 
we wish to say much about " forces " back of 
phenomena. The terminology belongs rather 
to the past. To those, however, who conceive 
of God in this spiritualistic fashion, this par- 
ticular concept will appeal more strongly. 

Symbolism in the mother plays. — To many 
it will seem that Froebel has in the different 
mother plays, as elsewhere in his writings, made 
too much of the symbolic and metaphoric. 
The lamp and the oil mill in the " Kicking 
Song," too involved to be explained here, are 
particularly bad. The baby's representation 
of the weathervane has no very justifiable 
pedagogic connection with winds in spite of 
the evident adult association. So the child's 
waving in " All gone " is made the text of a 
lesson to the older children that " if people 
want to keep things, they must be economical 
and careful wherever those things are con- 
cerned " (3:135). The waving "all gone" 
may be all right for the baby; and care is 

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good for the older child ; but the connection 
between the two is certainly not the kind to 
be sought in children's thinking. So the 
" Taste Song," which begins with tasting ripe 
plums and sour apples, includes in the com- 
mentary " especially the improvement of the 
sense of taste in its transferred moral meaning 
as well." " Who likes to be accused of having 
* common and low taste ' ? " (3 : 136.) *' Tick- 
tack," which consists of the child's using his 
arms for a pendulum, is announced as being 
*' a movement for the arm and its formation " ; 
but Froebel adds that we will " use our little 
limb games for the purpose of training our dear 
child to heed time" (3:139). No one would 
question that for the babe swinging the arm is 
a good enough exercise ; and certainly the babe 
grown older needs to *' heed time," but to put 
these two things together is little short of atro- 
cious. Of course Froebel could do it because he 
believed, as he says in connection, that at the 
bottom of the child's interest in timepieces lies 
" a deeply slumbering premonition of the value 
of time." An absolutely astounding belief ! 
N 177 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

One of the worst of the metaphorical in- 
stances is *' The fish in the brook." This is 
represented in the baby stage — "its outer 
form " — by a child's imitating the swimming 
of fishes by the movement of his fingers. The 
movement is probably a good one for the fingers. 
To name it to a baby as the " swimming of 
fishes " may be doubtful, but let that pass. 
This simple movement game leads to the as- 
tonishing assertion that a child tries to catch 
the flying bird and swimming fish in order to 
*' gain from both the free and eager power of 
moving himself, and guiding himself in what is 
clean and clear." Such catching, however, will 
be in vain. "It is from within that freedom 
must be won. . . . Try, Mother, to bring this 
near to your child, even though it be at first as 
the faintest notion. . . . To this end use your 
child's early delight in what is clean and clear, 
and in joyful excitement and merry movements." 
Could anything be worse .'^ A child is joy- 
fully running and skipping. He tries to catch 
a bird in the air or a fish in the brook. The 
mother must seek to use this in such way as 

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to give him a notion — faint though it be — ■ 
" that from within alone can the fresh and 
pure atmosphere be attained " ! (3 : 144.) 

Nor is this all. In the picture accompany- 
ing this in the Mother Play book " crooked and 
straight " is a pronounced feature. " The fishes 
are swimming straight and bent, the water is 
flowing straight and curved, the tree is grow- 
ing straight and bent, and round the straight 
slim Arum lily (calla) the serpents are dismally 
wreathing." Does the reader wonder what all 
this may mean ? "If you have thus early given 
your little child an abiding impression of the 
difference between straight and crooked, of drear- 
iness in the feeling of crookedness, and of com- 
fort in the feeling of straightness in action and 
life, in thought and speech, then directness 
and all that goes with it will be the mark of 
all he does, and he will move freely and joy- 
fully in the right use of his well-developed 
strength, . . . just like the merry fish in the 
brook"! (3:145). 



^ Let no apologist claim that such extreme positions of Froebel have 
no effect on his orthodox followers. It is no uncommon task for these 

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FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

In practice the kindergartner who uses the 
Mother Play makes a combination of the baby- 
aspect of the several plays with the parts meant 
for the older children. The children use the 
finger play meant for the baby and sing the 
song meant to " adumbrate " the meaning. 
The kindergartner then, according to her train- 
ing and insight, makes application of the " prin- 
ciples " found in Froebel's explanations. By a 
very curious oversight Froebel failed to arrange 
the plays according to the order of child de- 
velopment, or even according to any discover- 
able order. Moreover some few of the mother 
plays discuss topics which American kinder- 



to have their students in training study the Mother Play pictures for 
all their symbolism. One such student has told me of her failure, con- 
fessed at the time, to connect with the rest of the picture a little open 
pod lying at the bottom of the fourteenth picture. When her paper was 
returned, it had been marked off severely for this failure; and she her- 
self was sternly taken to task for speaking "flippantly" of the "germinal 
seed" whence had sprung a vine important in the picture. In this par- 
ticular school two years of study is put on the Mother Play. As a further 
instance of the same attitude, a kindergartner told me how she used the 
mother plays, illustrating with the "Light Bird" (a reflection of sunlight 
cast by a small mirror). Several children tried in vain to catch the 
light. Finally one little fellow gladdened her heart by saying, "We 
catch it by looking at it." This she felt had been a triumph. Such 
precocity is the result aimed at and approved by those who follow the 
mother plays in the Froebelian spirit. 

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OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

gartners as a rule do not care to bring before 
their children. So that selection and arrange- 
ment are necessary in the utilization of the 
plays. Froebel's oversight in these regards 
doubtless brings painful questioning to the ex- 
tremest followers of the cult, but the oversight 
is there and will not be explained away. 

" Pattern " plays. — Closely connected with 
the problem of the Mother Play is the question 
of the so-called " pattern " or typical plays. 
Into the rather heated discussion over this 
question one hesitates to enter, especially since 
Froebel himself seems not to have thought of 
his plays in quite this fashion. But the conten- 
tion of the " pattern play " advocates is so 
thoroughly Froebelian in spirit that the topic 
cannot be entirely disregarded. When Froebel 
made his collection of games he naturally used 
materials at hand, only modifying them to suit 
his theories (6 : 94) . Many of the games thus 
utilized were so closely connected with the life 
of the times as to afford to the children playing 
them an appreciable insight into the conditions 
of adult life about them. In so far they met 

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FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

an essential demand of educative play. When, 
however, the kindergarten was brought from 
conditions of German peasant life to its new 
home in the cities, particularly of England and 
America, institution and situation were no 
longer related in the same close fashion. Plays 
that in Germany had been vitally connected 
with everyday life now found no explanation 
in what the children saw in the home or on the 
street. Notwithstanding this altered relation- 
ship, the relatively static and conservative char- 
acter of the kindergarten tradition prevailed, 
and many of the original plays were continued 
with a minimum of modification. This was 
especially true of those activities associated 
with the " mother plays." In time, however, 
serious question arose as to the wisdom of using 
the German games, and not a few kinder- 
gartners frankly advocated games founded on 
materials furnished by the immediate environ- 
ment of the city. 

To this the traditionalists made answer, 
partly from conservatism, partly from Froe- 
belian theory, that the plays in question, while 

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they did by chance come from the small Ger- 
man village of a half century or more ago, 
nevertheless were general and typical, and 
hence could best introduce the child into the 
complex life which had developed from the 
simple life exemplified in the plays. Thus the 
city child who in mimic motion rakes the hay, 
feeds the cattle, and milks the cow is from this 
point of view being introduced by type and 
symbol into an appreciation of the economic 
interdependence pervading our complex modern 
society. 

It is impossible not to sympathize in some 
measure with both sides of the controversy. 
On the one hand, the presumption is certainly 
against expecting much social insight to come 
from plays where the life conditions represented 
have not been rendered vital by at least some 
first-hand contact. The fundamental law of 
apperception forbids. If the child has never 
seen a knight nor heard understandingly of 
knights, playing knights will afford no valuable 
introduction to knighthood nor to any later 
development from it. He may enjoy the game, 

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FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

and enter into it with zest; but the knightly 
element is lost on him. A child will sing 
" Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow," and 
play the game with great enthusiasm ; but he 
is getting no insight into agriculture as the 
mainstay of the economic world. In fact he 
will transmute the original agricultural state- 
ment into " Old sweet beans and barley grow " ; 
but what cares the child ? It is the singing and 
the game he wants, not the meaning of the 
words and even less the adult significance of 
the game. 

On the other hand, there are games that 
come nearer to giving an understanding than 
those mentioned just above. The reference 
to the cow and the hay is an example. A child 
who has never seen hay nor a cow may be led 
by picture, description, and dramatic gesture 
a certain way along the road of understanding 
the chain which connects farmer and hay with 
baby brother and pasteurized milk. Words 
and other such signs of experience may and 
often do prepare the way for a later apprecia- 
tion ; but the procedure requires careful con- 

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OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

sideration. To give the sign before a knowl- 
edge of the thing signified, while to a degree 
possible, is so easy a sin that from Comenius 
to now no shortcoming has more required to be 
preached against. It may well be called the 
besetting sin of teachers. 

The conclusion then regarding " pattern 
plays " seems clear. If they are attractive to 
children, their " pattern " character need not 
damn them. It will probably do no harm. 
They stand or fall as other mere games. If, 
however, they are introduced in the hope that 
the child will, through them, apart from pre- 
vious apperceptive experience, be led by the 
symbolism to a later appreciation of the social 
significance involved, then we may seriously 
question their worth. Learning for later ap- 
preciation is so easy to be overdone that careful 
educators are chary of encouraging it. If, 
besides, the kindergartner strongly believes in 
such anticipatory symbolic learning, she is 
almost certain to anticipate conclusions for the 
child. The meanings will be pushed upon him. 
Adult formulations will be sought and ap- 

185 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

plauded when got. Results got under such 
conditions are more likely to savor of glibness 
and conceit than of real growth. Froebel him- 
self encourages the kindergartner in such faults. 
In a pertinent discussion he says explicitly, 
the child " must have some anticipation of the 
thing itself [i.e. of the deeper meaning supposed 
to be present], or the game would give him no 
pleasure" (3:146*). Merely to label such a 
statement as false and absurd is not sufficient. 
A book which teaches such a doctrine should 
be most carefully used ; and games based 
merely on the principle under discussion should 
be eliminated. Every " pattern play " is peril- 
ously near the danger line ; nice scrutiny of 
purposes is necessary in order to choose the 
good and reject the bad. 

We may conclude then of the Mother Play 
book as a whole that it is not a safe book to put 
in the hands of mothers or of kindergarten 
novitiates. They would surely be misled if 
they followed its teachings, either in letter or 
in the spirit intended by Froebel. Symbolism 
and the outre metaphorical are too inextric- 

186 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

ably interwoven with the better elements of the 
book for us to hope that any learner could dis- 
entangle them. That the kindergarten has got 
profit from the book may well be admitted ; 
that the intelligent kindergarten leader may yet 
get suggestion from it is possible, but it seems 
reasonably clear that the rank and file of prac- 
tical kindergartners had better spend their 
time exclusively on more valuable books. 

Nature study in Froebel. — The study of 
animals and plants, of out-of-doors nature in 
general, has nowadays come to be an im- 
portant part of school life. Nothing lay closer 
to Froebel's heart. His advocacy of school 
gardens is well known. While he devised no 
specific procedure for developing an interest in 
animal life, he was nevertheless much con- 
cerned that the child should know and love 
animals, and should grow in and through his 
play with them. The " Bird's nest," as an 
instance, is generally counted the most success- 
ful of the mother plays. But it was to plants 
that Froebel's heart especially inclined. No- 
where was he more a mystic than here. Pa- 

187 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

thetic is the account given by himself of the 
shy little motherless boy finding under the 
hedge the little flower with its five petals and 
five golden points. For some unknown reason 
it " riveted my attention more than all the 
rest ; for when I looked down into its coronet, 
and between the little golden stars, I could 
fancy I was looking down into endless depths. 
I have looked into it for hours at a time, dur- 
ing months and years " (3 : 125). In Froebel's 
mind this looking was not in vain : " Now, 
fifty years later, I can see clearly why, as a 
thoughtful boy, I used to look so longingly into 
the flower's depths, and it was the Genius of 
Life who let me dimly see life's depths in it, 
life's law, and life's meaning " (3 : 126). 

We may be prepared then to find in Froebel's 
discussion of nature study both mysticism and 
common sense. It would not be fair to let the 
presence of the one blind us to the worth of 
the other. The Education of Man, Froebel's 
first extended book, gives both points of view. 
What could be saner, more akin to modern 
prose than this suggestion for boyhood ? " Par- 

188 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

ticularly helpful at this period of life is the cul- 
tivation of gardens owned by the boys and cul- 
tivated for the sake of the produce " (1 : 111). 
In this way the boy would have a definite 
objective standard for judging his activity, 
which should teach him the connection between 
environment, effort, and result ; "he would see 
his work bearing fruit in an organic way, deter- 
mined by logical necessity and law — fruit 
which, although subject to the inner laws of 
natural development, depends in so many ways 
upon his work and upon the character of his 
work " (1 : 111). And " if the boy cannot have 
the care of a little garden of his own, he should at 
least have a few plants in boxes or pots, filled not 
with rare and delicate and double plants, but 
with common plants that have an abundance of 
leaves and blossoms, and thrive easily" (1: 112). 
If Froebel has had no part in creating our 
current practice, he certainly anticipated it. 

Two additional points of view are given in 
the same discussion : *' The child, or boy, who 
has guarded and cared for another living thing, 
although it be of a lower order, will be led 

189 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

more easily to guard and foster his own life." 
In a day when extent of transfer from one 
activity to another is under closest scrutiny, 
this consideration will not carry as much 
weight as will the next one : " The care of the 
plants will gratify his desire to observe other 
living things, such as beetles, butterflies, and 
birds, for these seek the vicinity of plants " 
(1 : 112). In more modern phrase " motiva- 
tion " and direction of effort are secured by the 
problem relation of animal and insect to the 
more immediate object of interest. 

In Chapter I we considered the law of the 
parallel development of all life ; and it was 
there pointed out that plants are of peculiar 
value for Froebel for the light they throw on 
man and his unfolding. " The pure spirit of 
God not only is seen more clearly and distinctly 
in nature than it is in human life, but in the 
clear disclosures of God's spirit in nature are 
seen the nature, dignity, and holiness of man 
reflected in all their pristine clearness and 
purity. . . . Among all objects of nature, none 
seem in this respect truer, clearer, more com- 

190 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

plete, and yet simpler — because of their calm 
thoughtful aspect and clear unfolding of their 
inner life than plants, especially trees " (1 : 159). 
Such considerations led Froebel to say else- 
where that " from every object of nature and 
life there is a way to God " (1 : 202), and " the 
things of nature form a more beautiful ladder 
between heaven and earth than that seen by 
Jacob " (1 : 203). To enter thus into the king- 
dom of God, *' man — particularly in boyhood 
— should become intimate with nature, not so 
much with reference to the details and the 
outer forms of her phenomena as with reference 
to the spirit of God that lies in her and rules 
over her " (1 : 162). The educative value of 
communion with nature may not be equally 
evident to all, but the caution against mere 
details of nature study is always wise. Froebel 
follows this up more wisely yet. Teachers 
" should at least once a week take a walk with 
each class — not driving them out like a flock 
of sheep, nor leading them out like a company 
of soldiers, but going with them as a father with 
his sons, or a brother with his brothers, and 

191 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

acquainting them more fully with whatever 
the season or nature offers them " (1 : 163). 

School gardens. — The foregoing has con- 
cerned the youth, not the small child ; but 
Froebel is equally explicit when he comes to the 
kindergarten. *' The kindergarten . . . neces- 
sarily requires a garden, and in this, necessarily, 
gardens for the children " (5 : 218). A number 
of reasons are assigned for this, some better 
than others. Nature is to be considered as 
" the direct manifestation in action of God, 
the first manifestation of God." This is, in 
Froebel's opinion, of especial importance as 
affording a comparison between the growth and 
development of nature and the growth and 
development of man — the parallelism of 
nature previously discussed. " If now this 
comparative study is important for man, it is 
especially important for the embryo man — 
the child " (5 : 217). But there are also 
*' reasons of social and citizen collective life." 
The child must be treated not only as an in- 
dividual, but also as a member of a greater 
collective life. " This reciprocal activity be- 

192 



OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

tween one and a few, a part and a whole, is 
nowhere more beautifully, vividly, and definitely 
expressed than in the associated cultivation of 
plants" (5:218). To carry this out fully, 
there should be a general garden, which the chil- 
dren cultivate in common, and individual beds, 
the care of several children. In this connec- 
tion Froebel suffers one of the worst of his 
lapses into symbolism : The *' respective beds 
of the children must be surrounded by the 
garden of the whole, as the particular always 
rests protected in the general, and the general 
protectingly surrounds the particular " (5 : 219). 
But pass this by. In the outlined plan we find 
a number of very sane suggestions. 

*' The children . . . should by no means be 
introduced by this garden into the totality of 
the vegetable world ; but only into the part 
which most closely touches human needs " 
(5 : 220) . Both table vegetables and flowers 
should be included. Personal responsibility 
is fixed by the provision that " in their own 
little beds the children can plant what and how 
they will, also deal with the plants as they 
o 193 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

will, that they may learn from their own in- 
judicious treatment. . . . This will be shown to 
them by the plants in the common bed, which 
they must observe carefully " (5 : 221). The 
seeds and plants should be so compared and 
discussed that the children may learn to recog- 
nize them readily. Seeds preserved for the next 
planting should be kept in little paper boxes 
previously made by the children themselves. 
The beds should be so labeled as to name 
plant and child. Through this the child is not 
only carried along the road towards reading, 
but receives " the merited silent praise or 
blame," according as his work has been. Wild 
plants may be used each third or fourth year 
to increase the child's knowledge of these. 

While many would differ, on this point or 
that, from Froebel's presentation of nature 
study, it must be admitted, on the whole, that 
the good preponderates, and the useless is easily 
dropped out. The spirit of the discussion is 
distinctly good. It seems impossible to doubt 
that here as truly as anywhere else Froebel has 
helped to bring better things to the child life. 

194 



CHAPTER VI 

CONCLUSION 

We have now passed in review the chief of 
Froebel's kindergarten teachings. Good and 
bad elements have been found. In order that 
the detail of argument followed may not obscure 
the conclusions reached, it will be well to as- 
semble in compact form the principal of these 
conclusions. For the purpose at hand the more 
philosophical aspects of Froebel's doctrine need 
not be reconsidered. We are here concerned 
with those elements of his system which more 
immediately ajffect the practice of his followers. 
The final conclusion may be more satisfactory, 
if we begin with the rejected elements of 
Froebel's system. 

Unsatisfactory elements in Froebel's sys- 
tem. — The " law of opposites " we found to 
be for Froebel " the fundamental law of the 
universe " and the foundation of the " whole 

195 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

meaning of his educational system." Neither 
of these positions could we allow. The scien- 
tific student of the universe knows no such law ; 
and Froebel's method — save in its indefen- 
sible aspects — is in fact independent of this 
pretended principle.^ Far better that the prac- 
tical kindergartner never so much as heard of 
the " law." Its usefulness is nil or worse. 

Of much greater worth is Froebel's discus- 
sion of development. Although he erred in 
considering this merely as the unfolding of a 
content all the while present in the germ ; still 
even in this erroneous form the doctrine marked 
a distinct advance. In accordance with this 
point of view, the early period of the child's life 
must be considered as uniquely necessary to 
the full realization of his potentialities. Ac- 
cordingly the young child must be allowed to 
live out fully this period and on the child plane. 
As so stated the theory proves attractive, 
especially in contrast with the opinion then 
widely prevalent that the child is naturally 

^ The simultaneous teaching of certain paired opposites is only an 
apparent exception to the statement just made. 

196 



CONCLUSION 

bad and must be repressed. The difficulty Is 
that Froebel's theory values the child's life 
not because it is life, but because it alone leads 
to life. Our best thought now values the early 
period from both considerations. In itself, 
childhood is life ; as a part of the whole it pre- 
pares for what is to follow. A further and more 
evident objection to Froebel's theory of de- 
velopment is that it places the element of selec- 
tion within the child's native endowment in- 
stead of in the social situation. Many of the 
child's natural impulses in their direct form are 
not immediately suited to present-day social 
life. Society must select ; but to this selection, 
development as mere unfolding must funda- 
mentally object. In thus criticizing develop- 
ment we criticize Froebel's doctrine of child 
liberty ; for the two, as he treats them, are but 
obverse sides of the same process. It is true 
that Froebel admitted and advocated guidance, 
and this is nothing but social selection. But 
this selection is opposed to *' complete " un- 
folding, so Froebel merely held to both without 
reconciling the antagonism. Froebel's position 

197 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

on development is at best a halfway house. 
It marks an advance upon the preceding prac- 
tice of repression; it values childhood, but 
rather as preparation and promise. It fails to 
provide adequately for selection and hence 
leaves us without a guide in the difficult matter 
of child liberty. 

A most striking corollary of Froebel's notion 
of development is his doctrine of innate ideas : 
" Did it not lie in the child, did it not live and 
work in the child, did it not already define the 
child's life, it could by no means come out from 
it at a later period " (4 : 94). Some of Froebel's 
most unacceptable statements appear as illus- 
trations of this belief, especially in connection 
with symbolism for which the innate idea fur- 
nishes the basis. The child is later to know 
himself as a unified spiritual whole; the dim 
presentiment of this idea accordingly lies al- 
ready at work in his mind and inclines him to 
play with the ball because this symbolizes the 
whole. We found a belief in the efficacy of 
such symbolism — strange as it may be — 
permeating the whole of Froebel's kindergarten 

198 



CONCLUSION 

procedure. The gift series is symbolic through 
and through ; purpose, derivation, method of 
use, supposed effect — all are based so com- 
pletely on symbolism that if this be rejected, 
the series crumbles, and its prescribed use 
becomes hardly more than a superstition. The 
very movement games were arranged for sym- 
bolic efifect — fortunately the child can ignore 
it. The mother plays are almost as thoroughly 
symbolic as the gift series. Even the morning 
circle and the garden beds cannot escape. Every 
specific kindergarten activity, as devised by 
Froebel, is in some way symbolic ; and the more 
numerous such connections, the more valuable 
in his eyes. 

We conclude with reference to Froebelian 
symbolism that every vestige of it must be 
eliminated from the purpose of the kinder- 
garten ; and his original practice thoroughly 
made over to meet the demands of a sound 
psychology. The gift series as such must ac- 
cordingly go, and with it most of the gifts and 
occupations. Some of the materials will re- 
main, changed in size and form. The use will, 

199 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

on the whole, be very different. Children will 
play with these and other toys in childish ways 
for personal purposes and not from dictation. 
The ball will never be thought of in connection 
with unity, nor the cube with multiplicity. 
That the block occupies space will be no con- 
cern of the kindergartner. The child will use 
this fact, but he will never think about it — 
still less name it. His imagination will come 
into play to meet a difficulty, and not be arti- 
ficially called out as an exercise in faculty 
psychology, nor as sugar coating for the con- 
sideration of an otherwise uninteresting " gift." 
No regard for Froebelian *' sequence " will ever 
again cause the White House to develop from 
the Capitol. The very idea of this formal 
sequence will be utterly abhorrent. Nor need 
all of the given material be joined in one con- 
struction ; a truer unity of purpose will dis- 
place such a mechanical conception. 

The use of Froebel's writings. — Because 
Froebel's writings are so filled with symbolism 
and other mistaken psychology, we conclude 
that the wise training teacher will no longer 

200 



CONCLUSION 

use them as textbooks. Froebel's name will 
properly be honored, and his memory will be 
revered ; but only carefully selected passages 
from his books can be assigned, and this rather 
for the older students. Such an opinion will 
doubtless be more difficult of acceptance than 
the other conclusions here reached. The train- 
ing teacher, because she has got so much of her 
own preparation from lectures on the Mother 
Play, will wish to continue its use. But she 
forgets that the instruction given her in this 
way was in greater part first read into the Mother 
Play, and then deduced for her benefit. Shorn 
of their infallibility, Froebel's books will be 
less well adapted to such treatment. To the 
emancipated mind the crudities will continually 
increase. The opinion here expressed seems 
the inevitable conclusion. 

It may well be asked how a system such as 
we have just rejected could have made so great 
a stir in the world. Has the investigation been 
really impartial .^^ Can the judgment expressed 
be accepted as final ? Several things may be 
said. First, the review is not yet complete ; 

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FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

a better side remains to be told. But many 
have praised Froebel because they could accept 
all, even what has here been rejected. They 
have known too little of other educational 
thought. Again, partial Froebelians, accept- 
ing and applying his doctrine of development, 
have read back into his time everything sub- 
sequently achieved. By the further step of 
giving him personal credit for what was in the 
Zeitgeist, they thus deduce from him all our 
educational progress. Ignorance, error, and par- 
tiality thus explain much of Froebel's reputa- 
tion. But after every subtraction has been 
made, the principal foundation of Froebel's 
fame still remains in the actual contribution 
made. Much of this has been so thoroughly 
accepted as now to excite no comment, and con- 
sequently to lack that availability for discus- 
sion which is found either in novel theory or in 
widely accepted error. There was a time, how- 
ever, when Froebel's contribution was to the 
popular mind novel in the extreme. 

Strong points in Froebel's system. — Froebel's 
strength is perhaps greatest in his love for and 



CONCLUSION 

sympathy with childhood. Rousseau in theory 
advocated the same, but his personal practice 
was far different. Pestalozzi perhaps stands 
next to Froebel, but still below him. More 
than any other of his time Froebel respected 
the individuality of the child. Against the 
common public opinion he rejected entirely the 
doctrine of total depravity. For him the child's 
natural interests are proper and worthy of 
all fostering. Play in his system first got 
practical educative standing. Following this, 
manual and constructive activities were em- 
phasized. Initiative received special attention. 
Intimately associated with this is his doctrine 
of self-activity, which, divested of his peculiar 
metaphysics, comes wonderfully close to the 
best modern doctrine of interest. If " impres- 
sion " was given its rightful place by Pestalozzi, 
it was Froebel who first emphasized " expres- 
sion": "For what man tries to represent or to 
do he begins to understand" (1: 76). As con- 
scious means to this end he utilized building, 
drawing, modeling, and singing. 

One of Froebel's strongest positions is his 
203 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

insistence upon social relationship. On this 
Rousseau had gone widely astray. Pestalozzi 
was better ; but Froebel's grasp was far supe- 
rior. For him the child has a natural inclina- 
tion to social intercourse, and can reach his 
** destiny " only in and through social rela- 
tions. The kindergarten and school must 
take these facts into account and consciously 
provide opportunity for growth in sociality 
through actual participation in social life. Even 
before the child should come to the kindergarten, 
the family had furnished the first social group, 
babe and mother in this respect being alike 
objects of Froebel's thought. The kindergar- 
ten and school, in fact, were but to continue on 
a broader plane the child's social life already 
begun in the family. Here, as everywhere else 
with Froebel, unity and continuity were to rule. 
Froebel's appreciation of the esthetic ele- 
ments in human life found practical expression 
in the kindergarten program long before the 
ordinary primary school had dreamed of such 
a thing. His interest in nature study and school 
gardens preceded our modern practice. His 

204 



CONCLUSION 

rejection of formal religious and catechetical 
instruction put him ahead of his country, even 
to this day. His conception of an educational 
program not based on books is most instructive. 
Even rejecting the gift series, it still remains 
that Froebel saw education in far larger terms 
than the mere memorizing of set intellectual 
tasks or even the acquiring of the formal school 
arts. As the embodiment of this vision, the 
kindergarten will remain a permanent monu- 
ment to an epochal step in the history of educa- 
tion. 

Perhaps the most valuable of all is the prac- 
tical demonstration which Froebel through the 
kindergarten has given the world of how happy 
a group of children can be when engaged in 
educative activity. The older notion and prac- 
tice denied the general possibility of such a 
thing. True enough, in every age there had 
been exponents of a gentler treatment, but the 
common practice was all the while sternly 
prescriptive. For Alcuin, "it is the scourge 
that teaches children." With him Dr. Johnson 
agrees : " My schoolmaster beat me most un- 

205 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

mercifully, else I had done nothing." The last 
named thus lays down the then controlling 
theory : " Children being not reasonable can 
be governed only by fear. To impress this 
fear is therefore one of the first duties of those 
who have the care of children." How markedly 
does Froebel stand in contrast to all this. We 
need not accept his discussion of the divine 
effluence ; we can reject his theory of develop- 
ment ; but as a definite tangible example of 
how children can and do work happily, Froebel's 
kindergarten stands as " a city set on a hill." 
This is not to claim that his predecessors did 
nothing. They too deserve praise. However, 
let one but contrast the " infant school " of 
the early nineteenth century with the kinder- 
garten, and the difference between Froebel and 
his forerunners will be made evident. In the 
infant school the lot of the child was happier 
than beforetimes it had been, but note Wilder- 
spin's admonition, " it must not be counted a 
sin for a lively girl to laugh on the playground " ; 
and the superiority of the kindergarten stands 
clear. Recall too the song used by the girls in 

306 



CONCLUSION 

certain American infant schools as they marched 
into the schoolroom each morning : 

" We'll all take our places, and show no wry faces. 
We'll all say our lessons distinctly and slow. 
For if we don't do it, our teacher will know it ; 
And into that corner we surely must go." 

They sang as they marched in, and that was 
an improvement ; but note the " wry faces " 
which had to be forbidden, the lessons recited 
by rote memory, the stern eye of the teacher, 
the punishment corner, and the general back- 
ground of conscious opposition between pupil 
and teacher. The spirit of the kindergarten 
is immeasurably superior. And the point is 
that Froebel made an institution which could 
be multiplied at will, and still show the same 
joyous activity on the part of the children, and 
the same tender care on the part of the kinder- 
gartner. While this institution has been (so 
far) confined to children below six, it is still 
not too much to say that in Froebel education 
made a complete about face. 

Will the institution of such vision and such 
possibilities be able to slough off its old shell 

207 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

of symbolism, fixed " gifts," prescribed pro- 
gram ; and live with finer democracy a better 
life of spontaneity and child mindedness? 
Can the kindergarten consent to lose a separate 
life in order to find again a wider life in one 
common educative process? Will the kinder- 
garten, if the need come, be willing to give up 
even its distinctive name ? Already have kin- 
dergartners, neither few in number nor weak in 
influence, answered these questions in the affirm- 
ative. Merged with the elementary school, 
the kindergarten will give to the primary grades 
the best of its spirit. But in thus losing sepa- 
rate existence, Froebel's kindergarten will con- 
tinue to live yet more abundantly. 



208 



LIST OF REFERENCES 

1. Froebel, Friedrich : ^(^Mca/ion o/ilf an. Translated 

by W. N. Hailman. New York. 1896 (1887). 

2. Froebel, Friedrich : Autobiography. Translated 

by Emilie Michaelis and H. Keatley Moore. Lon- 
don. 1901 (8th ed.). 

3. Froebel, Friedrich : Mutter und Kose Lieder. 

Translated by Frances and Emily Lord. London. 
1895. 

4. Froebel, Friedrich : Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. 

Translated by Josephine Jarvis. New York. 1896 
(1895). 

5. Froebel, Friedrich : Education by Development. 

Translated by Josephine Jarvis. New York. 1905 
(1899). 

6. Froebel, Friedrich : Letters on the Kindergarten. 

Translated from Kindergarten-Brieje, herausgegeben 
von Hermann Posche, by Emilie Michaelis and H. 
Keatley Moore. Syracuse. 1896. 

7. Froebel, Friedrich : Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. 

(Third and last volume.) Translated by Josephine 
Jarvis. St. Louis. 1904. 

8. Marenholz-Bulow : Reminiscences of Friedrich 

Froebel. Translated from Erinnerungen an Fried- 
rich Froebel von B. von Marenholz-Bulow, by Mrs. 
Horace Mann. Boston. 1877. 

9. Froebel, Frieprich : The Kindergarten System. 

Translated and adapted from Friedrich Froebel, Die 
P 209 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

Entwickelung seiner Erziehungsidee in seinem Leben 
von Alexander B. Hanschmann, by Fanny Franks. 
London. 1897. 

10. Froebel, Friedrich : Autohiographie und kleinere 

Schriften {Friedrich FroebeVs Gesammelte pddago- 
gische Schriften, herausgegeben von W. Lange, I. 1.). 
Berlin. 1862. 

11. Froebel, Friedrich: Pddagogik des Kindergartens 

{Friedrich FroebeVs Gesammelte padagogische Schrif- 
ten, herausgegeben von W. Lange, II.). Berlin. 
1862. 

12. Froebel, Friedrich : Mutter- und Kose-Lieder von 

Friedrich Froebel, herausgegeben von F. Seidel. 
Wien und Leipzig. 1883. 

13. Froebel, Friedrich: Menschen-Erziehung {Pdda- 

gogische Klassiker, XI. Band, herausgegeben von F. 
Seidel unter der Redaction von G. A. Lindner). Wien 
u»d Leipzig. 1883. 

14. Froebel, Friedrich : Kindergartenwesen {Pdda- 

gogische Klassiker, XII. Band, herausgegeben von F. 
Seidel unter der Redaction von G. A. Lindner). 
Wien und Leipzig. 1883. 

15. Froebel, Friedrich : Kindergarten-Brief e, heraus- 

gegeben von Hermann Posche. Wien und Leipzig. 
1887. 

16. Marenholz-Bulow : Erinnerungen an Friedrich 

Froebel von B. von Marenholz-Bulow. Kassel. 
1876. 

17. Froebel, Friedrich : Die Entwickelung seiner Erzie- 

hungsidee in seinem Leben von Alexander B. Hansch- 
mann. Eisenach. 1874. 



210 



A CONVERTING TABLE OF REFERENCES 

A CONVERTING TABLE OF REFERENCES 

(For the explanation of how to use the table see pages ix f.) 



Page 


• English 


German 


Page 


English 


German 


Translation 


Origin Ai. 


Translation 


Original 


1 


8:29 


16:20 


20 


3:177 * 


12:182 


4 


1:2 


13: 1 




6:255 


15 : 194 




1 : 151 f. 


13:95 




6:57 


15:47 




5:26 


11:334 




1:1 


13:1 




1:167 


13: 106 


21 


6 : 23 f. 


15:20 




1:168 


13 : 107 




5:36 


11:340 




1:1 f. 


13: 1 




6:16ff. 


15 : 14 f. 


6 


1:2 


13:1 




8:28 


16:19 




8:29 


16:20 


22 


5:23 


11:333 




l:2t) 


13: 15 




1:25 


13:18 




9:172 


17 : 324 




8 : 29 f. 


16:20 


6 


1:159 


!3:100 


23 


1:6 


13:6 




1:159* 


13:101 




1:157 


13:99 


7 


1 : 160 f. 


13:101 f. 


24 


6 : 275 


15:210 




8 : 190 * 


16:124 




2:31 


10:56 


8 


8 : 212 


16 : 138 




8:150 


16:99 


10 


1:68 


13 : 39 f. 


25 


6:298 


15 : 229 




4:49 


14:53 


26 


3: 154 


12:158 


11 


4:94 * 


14 : 145 




8: 150 


16:99 


12 


1:165 


13 : 104 f. 




1:161 


13: 102 




1:195 


13:129 




1:160 


13:101 f. 


13 


4:62 


11:47 


27 


1:159 


13:101 




4:94* 


14 : 145 




3:186 * 


12:191 


14 


4:30 


14:39 


28 


1:173 


13:110 


15 


6 : 298 


15 : 229 




1:175 


13: 112 




4:192 


14 : 220 




1 : 176 * 


13: 112 f. 




4:232 


14 : 254 


29 


5:59 


11:352 




5:31 


11 : 337 


30 


1:197 


13:131 




8:223 


16:145 


34 


1:211 


13:143 




1:42 


1 




1:213 


13:144 


16 


8 : 228 


16:148 


35 


4:32 


14:40 




1:42 


13:28 




4:131 * 


14 : 187 




5:204 


14 : 26 f. 




5:211 


14:30 


19 


1:2* 


13:1 


36 


2 : 98 f . 


10: 113 f. 



^ A quotation introduced by the translator, for which the original was 
not found. 

211 



FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

A CONVERTING TABLE OF REFERENCES — Con^mMed 



Page 


English 


German 


Page 


English 


German 


Translation 


Original 


Translation 


Original 


36 


1 : 223 f. 


13 : 155 f. 


64 


1:126 


13:79 




2:100 


10:114 




6:91 * 


15:76 




1:203 


13:136 


65 


3 : 139 * 


12:142 




1:190 


13:126 


67 


6:91 * 


15:76 


37 


1 : 192 


13:127 


70 


4 : 32 f . 


14 : 40 f. 




1:193 


13:127 




4:32 


14:40 




3: 160 


12:164 


71 


8:8 


16:5 


39 


5:6 


11 : 323 




8:212 


16:138 


40 


5:270 


11:502 




8:7 


16:5 




5:174 


14:9 


82 


1:7 


13:6 




1:195 


13 : 129 


84 


1 : 7 f . 


13 : 6 f. 




1:194 


13:129 




1:9* 


13:8 


41 


4:94 


14 : 145 




8:67 


16:45 


42 


5:31 


11 : 337 


85 


8:68 


16:45 




8 : 228 


16:147 




5:210 


14:30 


43 


5:101 


14 : 272 




4:83 


14 : 186 


44 


5:91 


14 : 265 


91 


4:49 


14:53 




5:12 


11 : 326 


96 


3:121 * 


12:123 




6 : 275 f. 


15:211 




5:16 


11:329 




5:31 


11:337 




5:57 


11:352 


45 


5 : 232 


14 : 254 


97 


1 : 222 


13:155 




4:31 


11:337 




4:161 


14:117 




5 : 204 


14 : 26 f. 


98 


1:55 


13:33 


48 


4:190 


14:218 




1:54 


13:33 




5:12 


11:326 




1 : 105 ff. 


13 : 66 ff. 


49 


4:191f. 


14 : 220 


101 


1: 114 


13:71 


50 


5:101 ff. 


14 : 272 ff. 


102 


1 : 102 


13:64 


55 


5:33 


11 : 338 f. 




8 : 238 


16 : 154 f. 




4:203 


14 : 232 




5:40 


11:343 


56 


e : 275 f. 


15:211 f. 


103 


4 : 200 f . 


14 : 349 


59 


8:190* 


16 : 124 




4:260 


14 : 349 


60 


1:160 


13:101 


104 


4 : 84 f. 


14 : 137 f. 


61 


1:68 


13 : 39 f. 




5 : 102 f. 


14 : 272 




4:30 


14:39 




5:137f. 


14 : 295 


62 


4:94 * 


14 : 145 


105 


4:86 


14: 138 




4:11 


11:9 




4:96 


14: 146 




4:31 


14:39 




4:98 


14:147 


63 


4:33 


14:41 


106 


4:207 


14 : 235 


61 


4:29 


14 : 37 f . 




4:82 


14 : 135 



212 



A CONVERTING TABLE OF REFERENCES 

A CONVERTING TABLE OF REFERENCES — Continued 



Page 


English 


German 


Page 


English 


German 


Translation 


Original 


Translation 


Original 


106 


4:74 


14 : 129 


132 


4:180 


14:211 


109 


6:250 


15 : 190 


133 


9:210 


17 : 421 


110 


9:172 


17 : 324 


135 


4:187 


14:216 




5 : 204 f. 


14:27 




4:190 


14:218 




6:251 


15 : 190 


136 


4: 190 


14 : 218 


111 


5 : 187 f. 


14:17 


138 


4 : 98 f . 


14 : 163 




8:211 


16:137 




4:99 


14 : 163 




4:32 


14:40 


140 


4:186 


14:215 


112 


4:32 


14:40 




4 : 219 


14 : 244 


114 


4:32 


14:40 




4:138 


14:192 


115 


1:168 


13 : 107 


141 


4: 139 


14 : 193 




4:33 


14:41 




4:141 


14 : 195 




4:33 


14:41 




4:185 


14 : 215 


116 


4:35 


14 : 42 




4:141 


14 : 195 




4:37 


14:44 


142 


4:185 


14 : 214 




4:38 


14:44 




4:185 


14:215 


121 


5:123 


14 : 286 




4 : 185 f. 


14 : 215 


122 


4 : 2^", 


14 : 232 


143 


4:208 


14 : 236 


123 


5:194f. 


14 : 21 




4:210 


14 : 237 


124 


5:196 


14 : 22 




4 : 212 


14 : 239 




4:78 


14 : 132 


144 


4:210 


14 : 237 


125 


5:199 


14:24 




4:218 


14 : 243 




4 : 78 ff. 


14 : 132 f. 


146 


1 : 282 


13 : 215 




4:78 


14 : 132 




1 : 283 f. 


13:216 1 


126 


4:98 


14 : 150 




6:107 


15:88 




4:174 


14 : 206 




1:283 


13:216 


127 


4:117f. 


14 : 176 f. 




1:284 


13:217 




4:119 


14 : 178 


148 


1:282 


13:215 


128 


4 : 120 f. 


14 : 179 




1:294 


13 : 229 


129 


4:203 


14 : 232 




4:237 


14 : 330 


130 


4:205 


14 : 233 f. 




8:210ff. 


16:137ff. 




4:219 


14 : 244 


152 


1:112 


13:69 


131 


6:72 


15:60 


153 


1:113 


13:70 


132 


4 : 224 f. 


14 : 248 f. 




2:82 


10 : 100 




4:180 


14:211 


153 


6:94 * 


15:78 



^ The editor of this edition, Herr Seidel, has here changed the original. 
For the basis of the quotation see Froebel's Gesammelte pddagogische 
Schriften, herausgegeben von W. Lange (Berlin, 1863), I. 2. 249. 

213 



PROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PRINCIPLES 

A CONVERTING TABLE OF REFERENCES — Continued 



Page 


English 
Translation 


German 
Original 


Page 


English 
Translation 


German 
Original 


153 


6:253 


15 : 192 


167 


3 : 124 * 


12:126 


154 


9:177 


17 : 342ni 




3:12 


12: 14 




6:55 


15 : 46 


169 


6:250 


15 : 189 f. 




6:252 


15:191 




3:132 


12:135 




6:64 


15:53 




6:123 


15:101 




4 : 272 f . 


14 : 358 f . 


170 


3 : 124 


12:127 




4:250 


14 : 340 




6:311 


15 : 240 


155 


4 : 265 


14 : 353 


171 


3:132 


12:135 




1 : 114 


13:70 


172 


3 : 132 f. 


12:135 




6:162 


15 : 133 


175 


3 : 133 f. 


12:136 




4 : 237 ff. 


14 : 329 ff. 


176 


3: 135 


12:138 


156 


6:82 


15:69 


177 


3:136 


12:139 




6:83 


15:69 




3:139 


12 : 143 




6 : 253 f . 


15 : 192 


179 


3:144 


12 : 148 




6:88 


15:73 




3: 145 


12:149 




8 : 86 f . 


15 : 72 


181 


6:94 


15:78 


157 


4 : 246 


14 : 336 


186 


3: 146* 


12:150 




4 : 250 


14 : 340 


188 


3 : 125 


12:128 




6:94 


15:78 




3:126 


12:129 


158 


4 : 269 


14 : 356 


189 


1:111 


13:68 




4:269 


14 : 356 




1: 111 


13:68 




6:101 


15:83 




1 : 112 


13:69 


159 


4:256 


14 : 346 


190 


1 : 112 


13:69 


160 


6:61 


15:51 


191 


1:159 


13 : 100 f. 




6:61 


15:51 




1:202 


13:136 


161 


4 : 280 


14 : 366 




1:203 


13:136 




4:280 


14 : 366 




1:162 


13 : 103 




7 : 24-66 


11 : 527-55 


192 


1:163 


13:103 




8:109 


16 


72 




5:218 


14 : 405 


162 


7 : 29 f. 


11 


531 




5:217 


14 : 404 




7:31 


11 


532 


193 


5:218 


14 : 405 




7:31 


11 


532 




5:219 


14 : 405 




7:32 


11 


533 




5:220 


14 : 406 




7:37 


11 


536 


194 


5:221 


14 : 407 


163 


7:41 


11 


539 f. 


198 


4:94 


14 : 145 


166 


6 : 250 * 


15 


189 f. 


203 


1:76 


13:45 



1 It is not clear that Froebel used the words attributed to him by the 
translator in 9 : 177. 

214 



INDEX 



Alcuin, referred to, 205. 
Altenstein, Festival on the, 161 f. 
Aristotelianism, ascribed to Froebel, 
24, 25. 

Ball, child's interest in, 69 f., 158 f. ; 
symbol of unity, 32, 34 f., 69 f., 
79, 111 ff., 118 ff., 200; first of 
the gift series, 110 fif. 

Batch, referred to, 24. 

"Beauty forms," 47 f., 50, 52, 134 f., 
140. 

Blocks, use of, 129 ff., 146 f. ; all 
material to be used, 130 f., 200. 
See also Sequence. 

Borman's report on the kinder- 
garten, 133. 

Box, use of the, 130. 

Circle games, 64, 66, 67 ff., 159 ff. 
"Correspondences," doctrine of, 

stated, 7 f., 14 ; discussed, 31 f. ; 

referred to, 57, 67. 
Crystals, 27 f., 30, 33. 
Cube, 104, 147, 200 ; derived from 

the sphere, 113, 122 ff. ; the 

divided cube, 126 ff., 128 f., 129, 

142 f. 
Cylinder, 16, 45. 

Darwinism, referred to, 24, 25, 57. 

Davidson, referred to, 60 n. 

Development, universal law of, 4 ff., 
12, 13, 14, 23, 26; meaning of, 
8 ff., 57, 196; discussed, 59 ff., 
86 ff . ; education as development, 
91 f. 



Dewey, referred to, 53, 98, 101 n. 
Dictation, 200. See also Freedom 

in education. Guidance. 
Divine. See Nature as divine. 

Education as development, 91 f. 
Esthetic, Froebel's interest in, 140, 

204. See oZso "Beauty forms." 
Evolution, Froebel's position on, 

23 ff., 57. 

Fichte, referred to, 8, 10 n., 15, 25. 

"Fish in the Brook" (mother play), 
178 f. 

Five, the number, 36 f. 

"Following" education. See Free- 
dom in education. 

Freedom in education, 82 ff., 86, 
93 ff., 107. 

Froebel's writings, use of, 186 f., 
200 f. 

Games, 152 ff. ; inner meaning of, 

157 ff. 
Gardens. See School gardens. 
General and particular, 28, 127 f., 

149, 161, 193. 
General ideas, 125, 148 ff. 
Germs of ideas. See Innate ideas, 

doctrine of. 
Gift series, 42, 109 ff . ; derivation 

of, 121 ff., 147; significance of, 

145 ff., 150 f. ; fourth gift, 128, 

142; fifth gift, 128 f., 142 f. 
Gliedganzes, doctrine of, referred 

to, 12 f., 12 n., 57 f. ; discussed, 

38 ff. 



215 



INDEX 



God, relation of, to world, 1 S. ; 

Froebel's idea of, 18 ff. 
Grimm's law, 38. 
Guidance, 84 &., 88 ff. 

Hegel, referred to, 15. 

Imaginative play. See Play. 

"Infant school," 206 f. 

Innate ideas, doctrine of, referred 

to, 11, 66 ff., 71 f., 77 ff., 107, 112, 

121, 177 f. ; discussed, 60 ff ., 198. 
Inner and outer, doctrine of, 29 f., 

35. 
Interconnectedness, doctrine of, 

referred to, 11 ff., 57; discussed, 

32 ff. 

Interest, doctrine of, 98, 205. 

Jarvis, referred to, 61 n., 159 n. 
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, referred to, 
205. 

Kant, referred to, 10 n. 
Knowledge, forms of, 139 ff. 

Language, Froebel's conception of, 

33 ff. 

Lessing's Menschengesehlechts, re- 
ferred to, 59 n. 

Letters, meaning of, 35 f., 54. 

Liberty in education. See Freedom 
in education. 

"Light Bird" (mother play), 180 n. 

Life, forms of, 136 ff., 139 f. 

Matter, 3. 

Mediation of opposites. See Law 

of opposites. 
Member- whole relationship. See 

Gliedganzes. 
Mother Play book, 165 ff. ; use of, 

170 ff., 186 f., 201. 
Mother plays, discussed, 170 ff., 

181 ff. ; symbolism of, 176 ff., 199. 



Naming to fix ideas, 49 f., 106, 143, 

147. 
Natural state, 84. 
Nature, as divine, 1 ff., 21 ; as 

paralleling spirit, 5 ff. 
Nature study. 187 ff., 204. 
Natur-philosopkie movenient, 10 n. 
Normal forms, 104 ff., 108. 
Number, meaning of, 36 f. 

Occupations, 113, 113 n. See 

Gift series. 
Oken, referred to, 10; as leader 

of Natur-philosophie movement, 

10 n. 
"Opposites," law of, stated, 14 ff. ; 

referred to, 25, 58, 114, 122 f., 

134 ff., 150, 195 f.; discussed, 

42 ff. 
Opposites, paired, 16, 46, 50, 196 n. 

Pantheism, ascribed to Froebel, 1 ; 
was Froebel a pantheist? 18 ff. ; 
referred to, 57. 

Paper folding, referred to, 43 f., 50. 

Parallelism of man and nature, 
26 ff., 57. 

Parallelism of development, stated, 
5 ff . ; discussed, 26 ff. ; referred 
to, 57, 192. 

"Pattern" plays, 181 ff. 

Peaswork, 113, 114 n. 

Pestalozzi, referred to, 10, 61, 104, 
148, 153, 203. 

Physical training, 117, 118, 154 f. 

Pictures, mother play, 37, 164 f., 
175, 179, 179 n. 

Play, referred to, 96, 107, 109, 126, 
128, 129, 152, 159, 168, 203; dis- 
cussed, 98; imaginative play, 
73, 75, 136 ff., 146; guidance in, 
84 f. ; the meaning of, 98 ff., 
144 f. See also Games, Mother 
plays. Pattern plays. Self- 
activity. 



216 



INDEX 



Playgrounds, public, 155. 
Plaything. See Gift series. 
Plotinus, referred to, 3. 
Potential symbols, 79 S. 
Preformation, doctrine of, 9 f., 61, 

86. 
Premonitions. See Innate ideas, 

doctrine of. 
Puns, Froebel's use of, 30, 35, 38. 

Recapitulation, doctrine of cultural, 

7, 26, 59 f., 107. 

Religious teaching, 1, 176, 190 f., 

205. 
Kichter, Jean Paul, referred to, 102, 

102 n., 146. 
Rousseau, referred to, 203. 

Schelling, referred to, 8, 10 n., 12, 
18, 31, 40, 41, 77 n. 

Schiller, referred to, 161. 

School gardens, 188 S., 192 ff. 

Self-activity, 96 £F., 107, 131, 144, 
203. See also Freedom in educa- 
tion. Play, Games. 

Self-expression, 96. 

Senses, training of, 169. 

"Sequence," 131 ff., 200. 

Simple, logical, 104. 

Social relationship, 13, 38 ff., 57 f., 
152 ff., 192 f., 197, 204. 

Sphere, 64, 122. See also Ball. 

Symbolism, doctrine of, referred to, 

8, 13, 14, 26, 30, 32, 36, 37, 38, 



47 f., 63, 64, 102 f., 124, 127, 129, 
130, 131, 132, 135, 136, 143, 145, 
186, 193, 198 ff., 208; stated, 
66 ff.; examined, 71 ff., 77 ff., 
107, 149 f. ; types of symbolism, 
73 ff., 136 f. ; potential symbols, 
79 ff. ; symbolism of the ball, 
111 ff., 118 ff., 158; symbolism 
of games, 153, 158 ff. ; vicarious 
symbolism, 162 ff. ; symbohsm 
in the mother plays, 176 ff., 181 ff. 

Thorndike, referred to, 59 n. 

Time, children's interest in, 64 ff. 

Training, general, 104. 

Tree, analogy of man to, 6, 26 f., 
30 f., 190 f., 192. See also 
Parallelism of development. 

Tulk, referred to, 10 n. 

Unity, Froebel's interest in, 4, 11 f., 
64, 69 f., 112 f., 119 ff., 130, 131, 
149, 158 ff., 200. See also Ball, 
Circle games. 



Von Marenholtz-Bulow, 
to, 71 n. 



referred 



' ' Weathercock ' ' (mother play) , 

171 ff. 
Wilderspin, referred to, 146, 206. 
Work and play, 101 f. See also 

Play. 
Writing, Lina's, 44, 48 f. 



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